In the increasingly fierce competition in the new energy vehicle market, Nezha Automobile once faced huge challenges and dilemmas. With the successful holding of the delivery ceremony of Nezha L in Suzhou Fumao User Center, Nezha Automobile showed its confidence in getting out of the trough.
"60 degrees (bowing) is extreme respect and extreme gratitude." Daniel Zhang, CEO of Nezha Automobile, personally delivered the cars to the first batch of users at the delivery ceremony and bowed 60 degrees to the users affectionately. Daniel Zhang also personally opened the door for the user, and also said that his WeChat friends were not full, and every car owner who was present added friends.
For some time, Zhou Hongyi, the founder of 360 Group, who is an investor in Nezha Automobile, took Daniel Zhang to make Nezha have a full sense of existence on the Internet. This makes Nezha Automobile, which was once widely sung at the beginning of the year, seem to have won market confidence again. After Gao He fell, the traditional car man-made car was almost completely wiped out, but Daniel Zhang was still holding on. As an executive from a traditional car company, Daniel Zhang, who "can't sell cars", can Nezha regain its glory under the spur and pull of "red-clothed cannon" Zhou Hongyi?
01
The "red clothes" spurred Daniel Zhang to try to catch it
The first to make Daniel Zhang and Nezha Automobile out of the circle was a live broadcast jointly by Zhou Hongyi and Daniel Zhang.
On March 26, two days before the launch of Xiaomi Auto, in a two-hour live broadcast, Zhou Hongyi frequently and mercilessly fired at Daniel Zhang and other Nezha executives, such as "You don't understand anything", "Nezha cars are named with all the letters, so that consumers can't remember how to come, the pronunciation is very weird", "You are always 'self-hilarious' from marketing to product planning", etc.
Zhou Hongyi also mentioned many times that Nezha Automobile wanted to learn from Lei Jun, "You don't know anything about the whole situation!" If you look at the performance of Xiaomi cars, can't you learn like Lei Jun? Daniel Zhang then posted on Weibo, "Accept Lao Zhou's criticism, learn from Lei Jun in marketing, no shame!" ”
An embarrassing and impactful scene of a company CEO being unceremoniously angry and bombarded in a public live broadcast, coupled with the online popularity of the red-clad cannon, this live broadcast won Nezha Automobile a record amount of traffic and attention.
At the later Nezha L new car launch conference, Zhou Hongyi once again took the stage and shouted Daniel Zhang to learn from Lei Jun. Since then, under the continuous "spur" of Zhou Hongyi, Daniel Zhang and Nezha Automobile have begun to seek new breakthroughs more actively. For example, in response to the proposal to change the name, Daniel Zhang launched a vote on Weibo, "We are also very concerned internally, and decided to launch a public vote on the Internet, and at the same time, we will also invite Mr. @周鸿祎 Zhou, car owners and other expert consultants (everyone is welcome to recommend) to form a 10-person advisory group to deeply participate in the brand name change event, and we will report the progress to you in a timely manner!" ”
As a legend in the Internet industry, Zhou Hongyi has successfully created many products. His "bringing goods" undoubtedly attracted more traffic to Nezha Automobile. Nezha Automobile's marketing has changed significantly, and the name collection activity has even been on the hot search. Through a series of marketing campaigns and media reports, Nezha Automobile has gradually returned to the public eye.
02
Once at the top, now it is lagging behind
Behind Zhou Hongyi's high-frequency spur and Daniel Zhang's efforts to change, the former sales champion Nezha is in the predicament of obviously falling behind. The rumors of a factory explosion at the beginning of this year made Nezha Automobile's situation even worse. For a while, there was a lot of discussion about the future direction of Nezha Automobile, and even in the prediction vote of the next fallen new power car company initiated by netizens, Nezha was elected first with a high vote.
With its innovative technology and unique design, Nezha Automobile has indeed achieved good results in the market for a time, and was once a dark horse and top stream among the new car-making forces, with positive sales growth for several consecutive years.
In 2021, Nezha Automobile delivered 69,674 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 362%, ranking fourth on the list of new forces, and becoming the fastest growing new car-making brand in 2021. In 2022, Nezha Automobile will sell 152073 vehicles in the whole year, a year-on-year increase of 118%, becoming the first new power brand with annual sales exceeding 150,000 units, and also successfully topping the champion of new car-making forces that year. Nezha Automobile, which is making great progress, has also launched a plan to go overseas at the same time, established a European business department, established a factory in Thailand, and has a global footprint in ASEAN, South America, the Middle East and other markets.
The rapid momentum is bound to be favored by investors. In October 2021, 360 issued an announcement on foreign investment, saying that it planned to invest a total of 2.9 billion yuan in Nezha Automobile, with a total shareholding ratio of 16.594%, becoming the second largest shareholder of Nezha Automobile.
Nezha Automobile's initial development strategy is different from that of the new forces that hit the mid-to-high-end electric vehicle market, and its main models are aimed at the mid-to-low-end new energy vehicle market, which has also achieved a rapid increase in sales. However, entering 2023, the competition in the new energy vehicle market is becoming more and more fierce, and major brands have launched new models. It is not easy for Nezha Auto to switch to the mid-to-high-end market, and although it is also trying to adjust its product strategy, it does not seem to have fully adapted to the changes in the market. With the intensification of market competition, Nezha Automobile's market share has gradually been squeezed. In addition, enterprises are also facing many challenges in product marketing, brand building, channel expansion, etc.
It is also worth paying attention to the IPO road of Nezha Automobile. According to media reports, as early as 2020, Nezha Automobile announced the launch of the listing declaration work on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, but the new policy required to strengthen the review of the scientific and technological content of listed companies, resulting in a forced suspension.
"Nezha Automobile seized the B-end opportunity in the early stage of development, but when it was transformed later, it did not establish a strong enough brand awareness and influence for C-end users." Ji Xuehong, director of the Automotive Industry Innovation Research Center of North China University of Technology, pointed out.
In 2023, Nezha Automobile's annual cumulative sales will be 127496 units, a year-on-year decrease of 16.16%, which is quite different from its annual delivery target of 250,000 units. The ranking of the new forces fell from first to fifth. According to the data disclosed by 360, from 2020 to mid-2023, the cumulative loss of Hezhong Automobile reached 13.98 billion yuan.
After announcing the sales volume in 2023, Daniel Zhang posted on Weibo bluntly saying that Nezha Automobile "did not do well in 2023 for many reasons", and the big aspects are as follows: the new and old products are not well connected, and the rhythm is chaotic; The price of new products on the market is too high, and although the adjustment is in place in the second half of the year, it has lost the opportunity; Loss-making product lines have significantly reduced production; The way of communication is old, and there are good things that can't be said; The marketing headquarters is centralized and the management is weak. In addition, the decrease in production in December was mainly due to preparations for the export of CKD from aya and the launch of the new product L.
03
Self-innovation seeks breakthroughs
In addition to the positive movement of individuals, in the face of difficulties, Daniel Zhang is also initiating a comprehensive self-innovation of Nezha Automobile. The first is marketing. At the end of last year, Nezha Automobile issued a personnel appointment. Daniel Zhang will personally focus on marketing and concurrently serve as the president of the marketing company, and Zhou Jiang, vice president of Nezha Automobile, will concurrently serve as the executive vice president of the marketing company, assisting Daniel Zhang in managing the Shanhai Business Division, responsible for coordinating the marketing of the Shanhai product line, and undertaking the overall sales target of the Shanhai product line. At the same time, Nezha Automobile removed Jiang Feng Marketing Company from the post of executive vice president and Li Changhe Marketing Company from the post of executive vice president.
In addition, Daniel Zhang also said that Nezha Automobile will start again in 2024, "1, I am also the general manager of the marketing company. 2. Do a good job in the launch of the Nezha L large 5-seater SUV and the launch of the crossover EP41. 3. Adjustment of existing product lines and channel upgrades. 4. The marketing system all stood up and re-instated. 5. After two years of development, the overseas market has the foundation to accelerate in 24 years. 6. Comprehensively improve marketing communication and user communication. ”
Under the spur of Zhou Hongyi, Daniel Zhang's active pursuit of change has made Nezha improve? At least what has been done is that Nezha's voice has been sung a lot smaller, market confidence has been reinvigorated, and the IPO has also come with major good news.
On April 15, Tongxiang State-owned Capital Investment and Operation Co., Ltd., Yichun Jinhe Equity Investment Co., Ltd., Nanning Minsheng New Energy Industry Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) and representatives of Hezhong Automobile jointly signed the "Joint Agreement on the High-quality Development of Hezhong Automobile". It is reported that the three investors have state-owned backgrounds and will jointly help Nezha Automobile sprint to IPO and expand R&D investment.
According to the agreement, the signatories will further enhance the financial strength of Hezhong Automobile and jointly provide a total investment of no less than RMB 5 billion to Hezhong Auto. Coordinate relevant resources, support Hezhong Automobile to achieve IPO as soon as possible, continue to increase investment in product research and development and technological innovation of Hezhong Automobile, expand the intelligent network R&D center, and promote the expansion of Hezhong Automobile's export scale.
At the moment of the "cold winter" of capital, being able to obtain an investment of no less than 5 billion yuan from the background of state-owned assets shows that the capital market's confidence in Nezha has been regained, and Nezha's subsequent development has sufficient financial support.
04
The road to regain glory is long and difficult
In an interview with reporters, Cao Guangping, a partner of Chefu Consulting, believes that in the process of accelerating the involution of new cars, Nezha and other companies are conducting a stress test, including other situations such as some negative news or deformation of actions, which is relatively normal. This also reminds enterprises, the industry and users that they should still pay attention to more technical routes, product capabilities and enterprise operation issues.
"At present, Nezha Automobile, through the product to go overseas and develop hybrid models, is not wrong in strategy, but it has not been able to reflect the product strength in the product for a long time, and even the situation of high failure and low failure needs to be solved through more endogenous power such as innovative management mechanism and innovative product technology. It is difficult to solve the fundamental problem by relying solely on sales, drainage, and going to sea. Cao Guangping said that the reason for the phenomenon of "more expensive bosses" in the involution of car manufacturing is that it even needs to change the brand image by changing the brand, which essentially wants to form product sales through drainage. But in the end, it is the product that determines whether the sales volume is more ideal.
Ji Xuehong also said that through a series of marketing activities such as Zhou Hongyi's platform, Nezha Automobile has successfully attracted the public's attention, which will undoubtedly help enhance the market influence of Nezha Automobile. However, relying solely on the short-term traffic effect brought by marketing activities cannot support the long-term development of the brand. Nezha Automobile needs to pay more attention to investment in product research and development, technological innovation, channel construction, overseas market expansion, etc., and continuously improve its core competitiveness. At the same time, it is also necessary to strengthen user services, improve user experience, and establish a deep connection with consumers. Only in this way can Nezha Automobile stand out in the fierce market competition and achieve long-term steady development.
Judging from sales, Nezha's reform has not yet been reflected. In the first quarter of this year, Nezha sold 24,400 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 6.87%. In April, after the traffic surge, Nezha Automobile delivered 9,017 vehicles, an increase of 7.8% month-on-month and a year-on-year decrease of 18.6%. On April 22, the new model Nezha L was launched, and mass delivery began in May, and the current order exceeded 15,000 vehicles.
After Xiaomi entered the game, the competition in the market became more fierce and cruel, and the short-term crisis of Nezha Automobile has been lifted, and whether it can fight a beautiful "turnaround battle" next is a long-term test for Daniel Zhang.
Text: Zhao Lingling Editor: Xue Yapei Layout: Wang Kun
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