(Text/Pan Yuchen Editor/Xu Zhe) As one of the earliest car companies in China to design and develop engines, Chery Automobile often leaves consumers with the impression of "having technology but not selling cars". A few days ago, Chery has caused a majority of netizens to complain because of a suspected vulgar marketing copy.
On December 19, Chery's new car, the Arrizo 5 PLUS, was officially launched in Hefei. When introducing this model, the official typed a promotional copy on the background PPT: "Men love Ozawa, and there is no Maria the same."
Image source: @Cars01
From the copywriting, it can be seen that "Ozawa" refers to the new car Arrizo 5 PLUS, but after the second half of the sentence, there is a suspicion of "touching porcelain" Japanese adult movie star Maria Ozawa.
Since the new car launch was broadcast live to a national audience through the network platform, this promotional copy quickly caused heated discussion among netizens. Most netizens criticized Chery's marketing methods as inferior and vulgar:
Netizens have criticized Chery's marketing methods as inferior and vulgar
The netizens who received the most likes believed that Chery "touched porcelain" adult movie stars, just like "the embarrassing yellow passages spoken on the greasy middle-aged wine table":
Chery Arrizo 5 PLUS is an A-class sedan priced at 69,900 to 99,900 yuan. The model is equipped with two engines, 1.5L naturally aspirated and 1.5T turbocharged, matching manual and CVT stepless transmissions.
It is worth mentioning that Chery also invited the hard candy girl 303 group as the spokesperson of Arrizo 5 PLUS. Combined with the pricing of new cars, it is obvious that the user group is positioned as the young consumer as their "first car in life". Several of the group members also came to the press conference to interact with the audience. I don't know how teenage idols will feel when they see Chery using Maria Ozawa as a gimmick copywriter.
Hard Candy Girl 303 Group Endorsement Arrizo 5 PLUS
According to data released by Chery Automobile, since the second half of this year, Chery Automobile has gradually emerged from the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, with a total of 91,900 vehicles sold in November this year, an increase of 47.9% year-on-year. From January to November this year, Chery sold a total of 527,200 vehicles, down 0.1% year-on-year, and is still expected to achieve positive growth throughout the year.
However, this achievement did not make Chery sit back and relax. In the second decade of the 21st century, with the gradual rise of China's independent automobiles, Chery, as the leader of domestic brands in the past, has slowly fallen behind in the fierce market competition. The mutual restraint of multiple internal brands, such as Ruiqi, is regarded as one of the main reasons for Chery's stagnation.
In addition, Chery's asset-liability ratio reached 75% in the first half of 2019, and due to its poor financial situation, Chery, as a local state-owned enterprise in Anhui, had to carry out mixed ownership reform, and at the end of 2019, it was increased by 14.44 billion yuan by Qingdao Wudaokou New Energy Automobile Industry Fund Enterprise (Limited Partnership).
Yin Tongyue, chairman of Chery Automobile
However, after the mixed reform, Chery Automobile has not made significant progress at the level of corporate listing, and there is even a rumor in the market that "Chery has a debt of 70 billion yuan". In this regard, Yin Tongyue, chairman of Chery Automobile, clarified at the external communication meeting in September this year that the so-called debt of more than 70 billion yuan is due to the public statement including about 40 billion liabilities of Chery Financial's auto loan business, and the overall debt ratio of the company after exclusion is within a reasonable range.
However, as far as the performance of this year is concerned, Chery's sales volume is only about half of the three first-line independent brands of Geely, Great Wall and Changan in the same period, even in the face of second-tier brands such as SAIC and GAC, there is no advantage. Vulgar marketing events such as touching porcelain adult movie stars have once again cast a shadow on Chery Automobile's brand image.
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