2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 661 Sales in October during the Pre-sale Period

"Alright, everyone disperse. The data from the first day isn't very relevant; we need to look at the sales figures from the first month."

After the initial euphoria, Tan Jincheng and Zhang Yong carefully reviewed the orders from the first day.

Orders from Shenzhen, Tianjin, Luzhou, and Ningbo are showing a trend of concentration, with a significant number of them being placed under the name of FlashTech's local branches.

In addition, there are orders from places like Yicheng, Xiangcheng, Suzhou, and Changzhou, totaling about four or five hundred vehicles.

In other words, the actual number of customer pre-orders on the first day was around 1200 vehicles. Apart from some pre-orders placed during the day, the average number of vehicles sold per hour was just over 200.

With 400 4S stores and the official website subscription channel, and selling more than 200 cars per hour on the first day of launch, how can it not be called a hit?
"It seems we underestimated today's consumer spending power. Let's get the vehicle assembly plant to speed up production."

Zhang Yong had been the general manager of a sales company, so how could he not see what this series of data represented?

Starting from October 18th, the sales period for Yuechi is only 14 days. Yuechi's sales volume in the entire month of October will certainly not be too high, but based on yesterday's sales alone, it can be estimated that the first batch of 8000 cars will not last long.

4S stores always need some demo cars to provide customers with test drive services.

"Yes, hurry up. The vehicle assembly workshop will be working harder lately. Get me more inventory so that we can talk to Mitsubishi about a new engine contract at the Guangzhou Auto Show next month."

In the month between the new car launch and the Guangzhou Auto Show, Yuechi can only be considered a pre-sale vehicle. Yuechi also has a new car launch ceremony at the Guangzhou Auto Show. The real test is the expectations and production capacity after the auto show.

These days, there aren't many brands that hold dedicated new car launch events; it's mostly joint venture brands like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi that do it.

Most domestic independent brands launch their new cars at a single auto show, and some of them don't even go to the four major auto shows, but rather to smaller ones.

On the one hand, it's about saving trouble, and on the other hand, it's about saving costs. Anyway, you never know how long a new car will last. Just find a car show to launch it, make some money for a while, and then it might be put on the market or the company might even go bankrupt.

Few car companies cared about this, but Wei Lai made a big fuss about launching a new car priced under 20 yuan, like a luxury car launch by BBA (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi), which attracted a lot of attention.

Zhang Yong then asked, "Should we release last night's sales figures?"

Regarding sales volume, there are two contingency plans: one is to hold off on announcing sales if they are average, and the other is to announce them quickly when the market performance is good in order to increase exposure.

Tan Jincheng thought for a moment and said, "Let's announce it as 2000 vehicles. This number is more accurate."

The figure of 2000 vehicles is genuinely accurate. This includes the 10 vehicles that Zhang Xupeng ordered earlier, as well as the numbers mentioned privately by other close friends. These figures are not included in the 8000 vehicles that were shipped to dealers.

To be honest, after all the fuss, we've sold around 2000 vehicles in the last few days, which is really good overall.

With 2000 vehicles sold, the sales revenue would be around 100 to 200 million yuan. The profit might not be much, and considering the marketing expenses, it would be a huge loss. However, in terms of the revenue it generates for upstream and downstream businesses, it would be substantial.

There's a reason why almost every local government wants to develop the automotive industry chain; it's definitely more positive than real estate.

Its ability to boost GDP is no less than that of the real estate sector.

In the vehicle manufacturing workshop of the Weilai Beicang production base, the work pressure brought by the upper management was felt after the afternoon. The relatively relaxed work situation in the previous period changed from top to bottom after the afternoon.

We are working in three shifts to prepare for production, while the human resources department is also planning new recruitment for next year. In addition, the progress of the second phase of the project has also begun to accelerate.

The performance on the first day of the pre-sale period further convinced the already confident management team of Weilai Auto that Yuechi would sell well and be accepted by the market.

In the days that followed October, Tan Jincheng remained at the Weilai factory on Meishan Island.

Every morning and evening, a Maybach can be seen traveling on the newly completed highway leading to Meishan Island. Occasionally, a red supercar will also be seen, adding a touch of color to the lives of the residents along the way and those commuting between the city and Meishan Island.

Since the 19th, information from 4S stores and dealers across the country has been continuously being collected at the Beicang headquarters.

The feedback from 400 4S stores is very positive. There are customers booking test drives every day. Although the number of sales is not high, the foot traffic is generally large and the place is very lively.

When there aren't many cars available, 4S stores can usually only accept pre-orders and don't dare to sell all the cars in the store.

Interestingly, the increased foot traffic brought by the Yuechi series also boosted sales of the Yangzi pickup trucks displayed in the 4S store, something Tan Jincheng hadn't anticipated.

Furthermore, since the announcement of selling 2000 units in 5 hours on the first day, the Yuechi has attracted great attention in the entire automotive industry, even from current market leaders such as Honda, Toyota, and Hyundai.

Whether the data is accurate or not, industry peers can judge for themselves. For the first time, joint venture brands, which have always looked down on domestic brands, are feeling threatened.

Even though BYD's F3 has been a top seller for several years, few joint venture brands actually consider it a good fit. The reason is simple: this model is a pure imitation with no core technology. The reason it sells well is 80% due to its low price and the preferential policies.

However, for Yuechi, joint venture brands are something they need to face squarely. Although they still use Mitsubishi engines, their highly original models, prices below 20 yuan, and cost-insensitive marketing methods have made them feel threatened from the very beginning.

Tan Jincheng, who used to be reluctant to give interviews, has recently been frequently giving interviews to the media. His unreserved challenge to joint venture brands is both admirable and somewhat frightening.

Like a newborn calf unafraid of a tiger, the wealthy and powerful Mr. Tan's charm in the automotive market is truly remarkable.

Among them, the Honda CR-V feels this most deeply. As the current king of the urban SUV market, it has been firmly in the sales champion position since entering the domestic market. Recently, it has been frequently compared with the Yuechi series by the media.

Tan Jincheng used the same tactic he employed when competing with Luyuan for the Zhejiang market: frequent comparisons. During every interview, he would intentionally or unintentionally compare the Yuechi to the CRV. The media, eager to stir things up, would steer the conversation in that direction even if Tan Jincheng didn't bring it up, just to attract attention.

In terms of configuration parameters, the Yuechi is really very similar to the CRV, even the interior layout is very similar. Honda also brought over a few to see if there is any infringement.

Unfortunately, so far, we haven't found any that are very similar to the interior design; Yuechi has avoided them very well.

Honda really didn't dare to respond easily. They didn't understand that responding to this would only increase the other party's popularity.

Adding to the nationalistic sentiment, one wrong move could backfire, allowing a newly established brand to benefit instead, which is simply not worthwhile.

Mr. Tan has really mastered the art of opportunistic marketing.

Speaking of which, Tan Jincheng seems to have rediscovered the joy he felt when he founded FlashCheer and was doing marketing. The feeling of achieving big results with small investments and making competitors uncomfortable and unable to exert their strength is just too good to pass up.

How many cars were sold yesterday?

"Yesterday was Sunday, and sales were pretty good. A total of 193 vehicles were sold, which is above average. In total, we have sold more than 2700 vehicles."

Knowing that the boss had been closely monitoring sales, the marketing department, which manages the order system, specifically assigned a technician to track the order system and report to the boss.

As of October 25, after a week of pre-sales, 2705 Yuechi vehicles have been successfully pre-ordered nationwide.

Even excluding favors and personal connections, 2000 vehicles were sold in just one week of pre-sales. These figures are truly remarkable, so remarkable that even Tan Jincheng himself didn't expect them to be so good.

He had a lot of faith in Yuechi after that, because all the standards were designed based on the second generation of the previous generation of the domestic SUV. In an era when urban SUVs were rare, it was no exaggeration to say that it completely outclassed them.

Tan Jincheng's attempt to piggyback on the Honda CRV's popularity is merely due to his fame; in reality, if we only consider sales figures, Tan Jincheng doesn't really take the CRV seriously.

According to Mr. Tan, it's only a matter of time before Yuechi achieves sales of over 100,000 vehicles throughout the year. He just didn't expect the pre-sale results to be so good. If nothing unexpected happens, monthly sales should break 10,000 soon.

"Hey, that's really good. Looks like sales are better on weekends."

Looking at the sales data every day, and seeing the slow but steady growth, Tan Jincheng couldn't be happier. There are still six days left in the month, and it seems that breaking the 3000-unit sales mark in October will be a piece of cake.

Based on the pre-sale trend, it's not impossible for Yuechi's sales to exceed 1.5 units in 2009, or even reach 2 units.

With sales of 15 units, it ranks among the top 20 best-selling SUVs, and it's not impossible for it to compete for the top 1.5. This achievement is truly amazing.

"Keep an eye on it, and have the technical department expedite the software system upgrade. We need to do everything we can to improve the system's timeliness, even if it's just to get the data compiled before the start of the workday. This will allow the production department to update the production plan in a timely manner."

The pre-ordered models are of different types, including high, medium and low-end models, so some adjustments need to be made to the production plan. If we can make the adjustments a few hours earlier, it will be very beneficial for the production plan.

"Understood, we've been working overtime to upgrade the system recently."

"Okay, let's get to work."

While waiting for sales figures, Tan Jincheng also needs to oversee this year's Guangzhou Auto Show. The South China region has a developed economy, and many people from surrounding provinces go to Guangdong to work, in addition to the complex geographical environment.

Migrant workers from neighboring provinces like Hunan and Guangxi often ride motorcycles back to their hometowns. As their economic conditions have improved, this group has become Yuechi's current customer base.

We'll have to organize some activities at the Guangzhou Auto Show to attract them.

On November 5th, the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) released the sales figures for major automakers in October. Among the SUVs, the Yuechi series, launched in its first month, ranked 10th with 3563 units sold.

Ahead of him is GAC Toyota's Highlander, while the Dongfeng Nissan Qashqai series was squeezed out of the top 10 list.

In its first month on the market, the Qashqai, priced between 15.49 yuan and 18.59 yuan, became the first joint venture brand model that Yuechi used as a savior.

The performance of Yuechi has shocked the market. It should be noted that this is only the sales volume of Yuechi in the 14 days since its launch. If we talk about the sales volume of the whole month, the Highlander, Sportage and other series ahead of it are no match for it.

Today, Forbes released its 2009 rich list, with Mr. Wang topping the list with a net worth of 396 billion yuan. Mr. Wang's cousin ranked fourth with a net worth of 279.9 billion yuan.

BYD was riding high for a time, but Tan Jincheng, the CEO of Yuechi who created a sales miracle, was the most reported by the media. The Tan Jincheng family, which was full of controversy, ranked 30th with a net worth of 118.1 billion yuan.

Compared to a net worth of 54.3 billion yuan last year, the Tan Jincheng family's net worth has soared to 63.8 billion yuan this year.

In terms of age, 24-year-old Tan Jincheng and 22-year-old Gu Qingqing are the youngest billionaires among the top 500 on the list.

The fourth-ranked heir of a certain noble family, who is four years older than Tan Jincheng, is another wealthy man under 30 years old, who is the richest man in the coal province at the age of 28 and the husband of that celebrity.

These four are the most dazzling figures on this year's rich list, with Tan Jincheng undoubtedly being the most prominent. Today, in the eyes of outsiders, Tan Jincheng is experiencing "double happiness".

Boss Tan wasn't interested in the rich list, but he was very interested in sales figures.

Right now, she's happily on the phone with Nagasawa Yu.

(End of this chapter)