Since the beginning of this year, the general environment of the automobile market has not been friendly. Especially after Xiaomi Auto "bravely entered the automobile circle", this unique "traffic war" officially fired the first shot. Coupled with the previous "price war", various car companies had to rivet their strength. At the same time, the top leaders of car companies are also aware of the importance of marketing and have moved from behind the scenes to the front of the stage.
"Great Wall's products are actually very powerful, but the current problem is that they don't know how to sell cars." Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motors, confronted the biggest pain point that Great Wall has encountered in the market in recent years at the shareholders' meeting on May 10.
Just a day earlier, Wei Jianjun shared product details about his soon-to-be-launched motorcycle, "Soul", via social media platforms. Not only is the car equipped with an eye-catching V8 engine, but DCT transmission technology is also introduced for the first time. For a time, Great Wall Motors became the focus of attention of the industry and motorcycle enthusiasts. It is reported that the car will be officially unveiled on May 17 at the Beijing Motorcycle Show.
Wei Jianjun's marketing
For the "soul", Wei Jianjun has his own attitude. "I've always been a big fan of motorcycles, and I've been playing with motorcycles since '84, and my first car was the Happiness 250, which is still in my garage," he says. In fact, our generation has a unique feeling for motorcycles, which used to be 'productivity', and now is 'big toys', and the majority of enthusiasts want to have motorcycles that represent China, and we also have this responsibility on the Great Wall."
Recently, Wei Jianjun has changed his image of immersing himself in technology in the past, and is extremely active on social media. In fact, since February, he has personally entered the social media platform and marketed for Great Wall through video, live broadcast, and interaction with other car company executives.
In fact, since the market felt the popularity of Xiaomi cars, under the fierce competition in the market, car companies want to get more attention, and the phenomenon of grabbing customer traffic is also staged in different ways. These high-ranking bosses rarely show their heads, but now they have come to the camera to start "performing".
In addition to Wei Jianjun, Yin Tongyue, the 62-year-old chairman of Chery Automobile, started the first live webcast in his life. Li Shufu and Yu Minhong, chairman of Geely Automobile, who are also over 60 years old, started an online live broadcast at the Geely Satellite Gigafactory. Netizens continue to discuss the live broadcast behavior of car company bosses. Among them, the topic of "Wei Jianjun's live broadcast debut" is frequently on the hot search.
"For car companies, the 'head' to the front of the stage is no longer an innovative marketing method, but more like a kind of "standard" for car companies. With the help of such marketing methods, the purpose of car companies is to increase product exposure, enhance market awareness, improve consumers' awareness of products, and ultimately increase product sales. Industry insiders said frankly.
Wei Jianjun also said in a previous live broadcast, "In the past, the Great Wall was just doing nothing, and did not make good use of the Internet and media. In the future, he will often be active on social media to strengthen the interaction with users and consumers. ”
Behind Wei Jianjun's live broadcast is the deep-water area of Great Wall Motor's new energy system reform.
There is an urgent need to accelerate reforms
Last year, Great Wall Motor sold 1.231 million vehicles, missing the previous target of 1.69 million vehicles, and in 2024, Great Wall Motors has an annual sales target of 1.9 million vehicles, with a growth rate of more than 12.4%. However, in order to achieve this goal, Great Wall Motors needs to develop a new category in the second half of the intelligent battle, and become the "second growth curve" of its sales pillar.
According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China will increase by 35.8% and 37.9% year-on-year respectively in 2023, with a market share of 31.6%. In that year, China's new energy vehicle sales accounted for nearly 65% of the world's total new energy vehicle sales. China has ranked first in the world's new energy vehicle production and sales for nine consecutive years.
In the face of such a huge market, more and more players are entering the game. According to incomplete statistics, in 2023 alone, 788 new cars will be launched in the Chinese auto market. For consumers, there are simply too many options in today's automotive market.
As China's new energy vehicle industry enters the second half of intelligent transformation, the competition of intelligent technology will become an important track for car companies to compete. However, in the eyes of the market, the new energy is backward, and the intelligence of the Great Wall lacks advantages.
In the past years, off-road, hardcore has become the Great Wall can not get rid of the label, once sold the highest 580,000 Haval H6, and in recent years has become the new pillar of the Great Wall's sales, the Great Wall gun series, to a certain extent limited the development of the Great Wall.
In this regard, Wei Jianjun said: "Great Wall Motors needs consumers to have a stronger understanding of its electrification and intelligent capabilities, which can be reflected in sales. ”
Senior analysts in the industry commented: "In the past, car companies focused on products and technologies, and focused on the B-end in marketing, but in today's traffic era, they must also be more sensitive to capture the needs of consumers, interact with consumers, and let consumers have a more direct perception of their own technologies and products." From technology, channels to marketing, everything is subverting the way the past was played. But whoever can seize the opportunity of change can also take advantage of it to stand at the forefront of the trend. ”
Try a dual sales system
As the former first brother of Chinese auto brand sales, Great Wall has encountered the dilemma of market promotion in recent years in the face of electrification and intelligence, and the outside world has mixed reviews of Great Wall Motors, but within Great Wall, persistence and reform have never stopped.
In fact, the Great Wall is actively promoting senior intelligent strength. At this year's Beijing Auto Show, Great Wall Motor comprehensively demonstrated the latest achievements in intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit technology, including full-scene NOA, intelligent driving model SEE, intelligent driving assistance system Coffee Pilot Ultra, intelligent cockpit system Coffee OS3, etc.
In addition, Great Wall Motor plans to start trying a dual sales system in May this year, that is, in addition to maintaining the existing dealer system, it will also adopt a direct sales model. The direct brand, named Great Wall Zhixuan, will be a sub-brand of Great Wall Motors, forming a "double sales" system with Great Wall dealers to complement Great Wall Motor's network layout.
Great Wall Zhixuan currently includes two brands, Tank and WEY brand, with a total of six products, namely Tank 300, Tank 400, Tank 500 and Tank 700, and WEY brand Blue Mountain and High Mountain.
Mu Feng, President of Great Wall Motors, said that the entire intelligent layout of Great Wall is divided into four levels. "With the super-dispersed center as the base, the hardware foundation and industrial foundation of the software-defined vehicle brain have been built with the power domain and chassis domain to support our real wisdom: the intelligent driving module represented by autonomous driving, and the intelligent life module represented by the intelligent cockpit."
It is worth mentioning that the strong financial performance has given Great Wall Motors more ammunition to start the direct sales model and meet the challenges of the future.
On April 24 this year, Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd. (Great Wall Motor, 601633) released the first quarter financial report, showing that the operating income in the first quarter was 42.86 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 47.6%; net profit was 3.228 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1752.55%; Basic earnings per share was 0.38 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1800%.
In terms of sales, according to the company's previous disclosure, in 2024, the cumulative sales from January to April will be 370129 units, a year-on-year increase of 18.18%. Among them, the overseas performance was outstanding, with 36,141 units sold in April, a year-on-year increase of 65.68%, a new high; The performance of new energy is also good, with 22,436 units sold in April, a year-on-year increase of 50.94%.
In addition, the high-end development of Great Wall Motors has accelerated in an all-round way, with 25,625 models of more than 200,000 yuan sold in April, an increase of 98.18% year-on-year.
Facing the future, Wei Jianjun believes: "In the three years from 2024 to 2026, the competition intensity of the automotive industry will not decrease, and Great Wall Motors must adhere to the long-term development strategy to face the future." ”