2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 750 12 City Experience Center Plan
"What is the suggested retail price of the Yuechi A3? Please look at the big screen."

After Tan Jincheng finished explaining the specific data and features, the most crucial part, the pricing, came next.

The upgraded version will definitely be more expensive, and the audience was already prepared for that.

"From 10.90 yuan to 15.18 yuan!"

This is the guide price of the Yuechi A3. Compared to the Yuechi A1, the price has officially reached over 10 yuan. From the Yuechi A3's strategy, it can be seen that Yuechi has no intention of entering the SUV market below 10 yuan.

"It's alright. The performance and size have been improved a lot, but the price hasn't increased much. The price is still very reasonable."

The whispers behind them reached Lei Jun and Boss Ding's ears, and they couldn't help but nod.

A product is halfway to success if its price makes consumers feel it's worth the money.

Lei Jun felt he learned a lot from the press conference, and the process and gimmicks of car launch events seemed to work for the Xiaomi 1 as well.
At the same time, I am more confident in the pricing of the Xiaomi 1.

Perhaps it's true, as Mr. Tan said, that the Xiaomi 1 will sell well. For some reason, he always had a feeling that Tan Jincheng seemed to have more confidence than him.

In addition to the Yuechi A3, Tan Jincheng also announced the timeline for the second-generation iteration of the Yuechi A1, which will be at next year's Guangzhou Auto Show.

Three years after its official launch, the second-generation Yuechi A1 has seen significant improvements in performance.

As for the price of the updated Yuechi A1, it will remain unchanged from the current price. In order to maintain the sales volume of the old model, the existing Yuechi A1 will be subject to a new preferential policy starting from January 1, 2011.

In addition, new users who purchase after October 1st this year will receive certain subsidies.

A series of policies have both appeased existing customers and provided ample room for iterating new models, while the pricing of the Yuechi A3 serves more as a reference point.

Xiangzhuang's sword dance is intended for Peigong.

The price of the Yuechi A3 hasn't increased much; its greater significance lies in boosting the sales of the Yuechi A1. Comparison is key, and the Yuechi A3 serves to highlight the advantages of the Yuechi A1.

It would be great if the Yuechi A3 sold well, but it wouldn't matter if it sold only moderately; as long as the sales of the Yuechi A1 were guaranteed, that would be fine.

The process for the Aion S and the ES6 was basically the same as for the Yuechi A3, except that the drivers were Lei Jun and Boss Ding.

"Wow, a new car launch event with several billionaires driving the car, this scene is something else."

"That's right, it's much harder than hiring a celebrity. I've never seen a company boss endorse another company's products before."

Celebrities only need money and availability, but for bosses of large corporations to get them to make appearances, they need personal connections. If the relationship between the two parties isn't close enough, how could they possibly agree?

The simultaneous release of two new energy vehicles, with the high-end ES6 boasting a stunning design that transcends time, featuring a unique front design unlike anything currently available on the market.

The compact split headlights and grille layout create a dynamic visual effect. The interior is exquisitely crafted, the cabin is spacious, and the chassis is stable, giving it the solid feel of a luxury SUV.

"The guide price of 33.8 to 54.8 yuan is a bit high, but this is our high-end brand, and it is a subsidized price. I think everyone can accept this price, right?"

"After the press conference, these cars will be displayed in the exhibition area for everyone to experience. They will showcase our latest technologies from Weilai Auto, such as batteries and intelligent driving."

The ES6 has a design comparable to the Tesla Model S, and many consumers at the event didn't understand it. But that's okay, there are still a few years until the Tesla Model S is launched.

Furthermore, Tesla dealerships, represented by Wei, will be rolled out nationwide next year. With the promotion of a pure electric sports car, the acceptance of the ES6 will be higher.

Electric cars are still more like big toys, especially the high-end ones; they're more of a niche culture, and I don't really expect many people to accept them.

As for the Aion S, its starting price of less than 8 yuan after subsidies is much cheaper than the ES6, but it is not targeted at ordinary consumers either.

BYD has the support of the Shenzhen Municipal Government, and Weilai also has the support of the Ningbo Municipal Government. Before the official launch of Aion S, the Ningbo Municipal Government had already signed an agreement with Weilai to order 2000 Aion S vehicles for the replacement of taxis.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development once set a guiding standard for the number of taxis in cities: no less than 20 taxis per 10,000 people in large cities and no less than 5 taxis per 10,000 people in small cities.

Ningbo is considered a large city. By this standard, Ningbo should have about 1.5 taxis. In the future, with the increase in population, the number of taxis should increase further.

No problem. Referring to the marketing methods of the short video era in later years, when a new car is launched, a bunch of marketing accounts, car reviewers, and self-media accounts can shoot all kinds of experience videos, which can attract some ordinary consumers.

The pricing and appearance of the Aion S would be considered an ugly ride-hailing car a decade or two from now, but even now, it's much more attractive than electric cars like the BYD F3 DM.

At least every car under Weilai Auto is independently designed and does not follow the path of plagiarism, which is rare among domestic brands.

The fact that they haven't copied others, or haven't copied them excessively, is a significant advantage for domestic brands. Since the release of their first model, the Yuechi A1, Weilai Auto has enjoyed a very good reputation due to its independently designed exterior.

"The response to the two new energy vehicles doesn't seem to be as good as that to the Yuechi A3."

After an hour and a half press conference, and after taking a few photos with fans, Mr. Ding, as the host, led Lei Jun and Tan Jincheng to the headquarters of hog farm in Guangzhou.

"Having stayed here for so long, I've even learned to drink tea. Xiao Tan, would you like coffee or tea?"

Old Ding's office also has a tea room with a wide variety of fine teas.

"Let's have tea, it'll save us the trouble. I don't care what I drink, coffee is just more convenient and faster."

"That's true. When it's inconvenient to be outside, we can only drink coffee."

Old Ding's tea-brewing skills are alright, but they're far from elegant.

A middle-aged man with a big belly is nowhere near as pleasing to the eye as a young woman in a cheongsam with a graceful figure.

"I learned a lot at the new car launch event in Weilai today. Mr. Tan, your company's planning department is quite capable."

"Haha, not really. Actually, we learned from Steve Jobs' Apple product launches and then evolved from them."

Apple's annual product launch events always attract a lot of attention, but at this time, Apple's launch events are limited to the mobile phone industry and have not yet reached the point of going beyond the mainstream.

It's nothing new for domestic companies to learn from foreign business models. MiTalk is actually modeled after an instant messaging software called KK released by a Canadian company. It gained 1 million users in just 15 days after its launch.

One million users in foreign countries are not on the same level as one million users in China. If we really want to compare, a software with one million users in Canada may have a greater impact than one with tens of millions of users in China.

"Haha, no wonder, Weilai Auto's new car launch this time is full of technology, it should cause a great sensation among its peers."

After the press conference, during the photo session, the two test drove several vehicles. The driving experience of the pickup truck was greatly improved, and the Yuechi A3 had a very good sense of space and the interior was also very exquisite.

What surprised them the most were the two electric vehicles that hadn't generated much buzz, but whose intelligent driving experience was far superior to that of other electric vehicles currently on the market.

Especially the pure electric models, they are really comfortable to drive. It seems that Wei Lai has absorbed a lot of Tesla's technology in his cooperation with Tesla.

The layman looks at the excitement and the insider looks at the doorway.

Weilai Auto has been quietly engaged in technological research and development, and it seems that it has already achieved some results. Presumably, these two models will be used by major manufacturers for research.

"It's still a little short. I'll send you two a Roadster next year. You'll see once you drive it. That thing is indeed much more advanced than ours."

Tan Jincheng has already brought back several Roadsters he bought. The performance of the base model is not particularly strong, with a maximum motor power of only 248 horsepower, a 0-100 km/h acceleration of 5.7 seconds, and a range of 320 to 400 kilometers, but in reality, it is not.

However, in addition to the basic model, Tan Jincheng also got a 2.5 Sport version, which is much more powerful. It can travel about 390 kilometers on a full charge, with a maximum power of 288 horsepower and a 0-100 km/h acceleration of 3.7 seconds.

It can reach a top speed of 201 kilometers per hour, making it a truly enjoyable driving experience.

Most importantly, this car is incredibly stylish, with its classic radiant red paint, tan leather interior, and removable roof. This two-door all-electric sports car seemed like a supernatural creation in 2010.

Before Tesla went public, Musk was actually a joke in the United States. His behavior was eccentric, and many people even thought he was not very smart.

An electric sports car project almost bankrupted itself, but the car itself is truly exceptional, a fact recognized worldwide, with many celebrities ordering the Roadster.

The Roadster, which went into production in 2008, has sold approximately 2200 units to date, which is actually quite a good result.

When Wei Lai introduced the Roadster, he didn't expect it to be a huge success. If he could sell 200 units next year, accounting for 10% of the total sales, that would be considered good. The current Roadster is currently in the registration process.

As it is a pure electric vehicle, in addition to obtaining the approval of the traditional automotive regulatory authorities, it also needs to obtain network access permission from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The plan to open stores in 12 cities is also underway. After communicating with Tesla, it seems a bit monotonous to only have one sports car in the directly operated stores. In the future, the Aion S and the Weilai ES6 will also be available in the directly operated stores.

All directly operated stores are uniformly named "Weilai Tesla Experience Center".

"That's great! By the way, how are you planning to translate the brand name Roadster?"

Tan Jincheng said he would give him a Roadster, and Lei Jun was very happy. It was clear that he was more interested in cars than Lao Ding.

"Haha, no translation needed. Let's leave it as is and see how consumers translate it after it's launched. We'll pick the one that's most acceptable." It's true that Musk is an abstract person; "Roadster" doesn't have a specific meaning. It can roughly be translated as sports car, or convertible sports car. Obviously, a direct translation wouldn't be suitable as a Chinese brand name.

I don't know why this company chose such a word as its brand name. Maybe they were trying to piggyback on Lotus's success? After all, Tesla's sports car was originally intended to be a heavily modified Lotus.

As for the Chinese name, we'll leave it to netizens; that might generate some buzz.

"Haha, you sure know how to generate buzz. You even got the Tesla brand logo?"

After hearing Tan Jincheng's plan, Lao Ding was speechless. He had to admit that this kid really knew how to generate buzz. This kind of direct involvement in brand naming was both novel and exciting. And there was no doubt that the person chosen in the end would definitely receive a reward.

"What happened?"

Lei Jun was unaware of this matter and asked with some curiosity.

"Haha, their collaboration with Tesla was to import sports cars and open stores, but the Tesla brand trademark in China had already been registered by someone in 06. They tried to negotiate for several months but couldn't reach an agreement."

"Oh, is that so? How is it now?"

Trademark squatting has been a recurring theme in business history. Tesla was founded in 03, and its domestic trademark was registered in 06. To say there is absolutely no connection between them would be pure nonsense, but it is not illegal after all.

It's a joke if it happens to someone else, but it's a bit disgusting when it happens to you.

"We've reached an agreement. It cost 600 million yuan. I have to thank you for this, brother."

Tan Jincheng, a native of Guangdong Province, used his connections, including Boss Ding's, to make the matter quite a stir in his inner circle. In the end, the trademark holder could no longer hold on to it.

However, Tan Jincheng still added 100 million yuan to the original quote, which was considered a concession to the other party, and the matter was thus resolved satisfactorily.

Wow, the cooperation with Tesla was agreed upon at the end of July. From then on, Wei started contacting the trademark holder to discuss the trademark transfer agreement. By the time he got the trademark, it was already December.

That's a full five months! Even discussing a project wouldn't take that long. I'm truly impressed.

If it weren't for the trademark issue, the experience store would have opened around New Year's Day.

"Haha, I didn't really help much, but it's good that we managed to reach an agreement. 6 million it is. People who dare to use this kind of trick are a bit weird. Just consider it money to avoid trouble."

In 2010, it was somewhat outrageous to spend 600 million yuan to buy a trademark for a company that was not particularly well-known in China, and the seller was a well-known domestic company.

Tan Jincheng didn't really want to make a big fuss. Not only would it be embarrassing, but it would also be even more troublesome if these trademark scalpers targeted him in the future.

"This is also a reminder for Xiaomi. It seems that they need to expand their trademark matrix even further. Goodness, registering a trademark in 06 costs 600 million yuan in just a few years."

Old Lei joked with a smile.

Hey, you don't know, do you? If it weren't for me, Director Ma would have had to spend even more four years later.

During this rare free time, the three entrepreneurs chatted about their businesses, mostly about the internet, since they had a lot in common.

"Your Dingding really doesn't do instant messaging, only enterprise-level products?"

Pig Farm has actually made a lot of IM software, such as Bubble, Community, and even Weibo, but apart from Bubble, the others did not make much of a splash, especially Weibo, which seemed like a joke.

After a few years, Lao Ding finally gave up. They really couldn't handle this kind of thing, but investing in it would still be a good option.

"If you really only focus on enterprise-level applications, tell me, who can beat Pony Ma in the IM market? He doesn't care about other things, but if you try to compete with him in IM, he'll go crazy!"

Old Zhou almost got killed by QQ just because he threatened it.

Besides, we can't compete with others in this field, so why waste resources? If you don't have the genes, you just don't have the genes. It's like how Pony Ma wanted to get into online shopping, but after many years he still couldn't succeed.

In addition, Tencent's success and failure can both be attributed to QQ. While social networking among acquaintances has its advantages, the disadvantages become very obvious when privacy is prioritized.

Tencent has also launched Weibo, and it's even integrated into QQ. You can directly forward a QQ post to Tencent Weibo.

Doesn't it look convenient? But actually, this behavior is really stupid.

A community of strangers and a community of acquaintances are completely different things. Although WX initially acquired many users from QQ, actually very few people actually used it. They were all the same group of people, so why should they be tied to another software?

It wasn't until WeChat launched the "People Nearby" feature, using a more subtle approach to promotion, that it truly opened up the market and successfully converted QQ users.

LSP will always be the primary productive force.

Lei Jun nodded in agreement: "Yes, if Tencent enters our MiTalk market a year from now, the probability of success is 50%, but if they enter within three months, it's a sure thing."

Tencent headquarters hasn't made any moves yet, but Zhang Xiaolong has already been secretly developing it in Guangzhou. If all goes well, WX should be launched around the end of January next year.

Mr. Ding felt a deep resonance with Lei Jun's words.

Tan Jincheng glanced at the two of them but said nothing more; it was inappropriate to express his opinion at this time.

We ate lunch in Mr. Ding's office; it was simple and quiet.

In the afternoon, Lei Jun went to Shenzhen first to continue negotiations with Foxconn executives. Tan Jincheng still needed to stay in Guangzhou. The auto show lasted for seven days, and today was the first day. After the new car launch, Tan Jincheng still had some things to take care of.

As its scale gradually expands, Weilai needs to establish a branch in South China and also needs to set up a Weilai Tesla Experience Center. Tan Jincheng wants to take this opportunity to inspect these two projects.

The branch office and experience center are both located in Zhujiang New Town in Tianhe District, representing a significant investment.

When Tan Jincheng came to Guangzhou in 2004, large areas of Zhujiang New Town were still farmland, but now it looks very different.

The iconic Canton Tower has been completed and officially opened to the public for ticket sales on October 1st of this year, already showing some of its future appearance.

"Boss, how about buying a house here? We'll be doing a lot of business here in the future, you can't keep living in hotels, can you?"

Zeng Jixiang was accompanying Tan Jincheng. While inspecting the branch office with his boss, he couldn't help but chime in with his own words.

"It's not impossible. How about buying an apartment near the company? I remember there's a residential complex nearby called Dijingyuan, right? Can you help me pick one out?"

In July, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development released a national housing price list. The regions with the highest housing prices were naturally Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. The average housing price in the top 20 cities was 8500 yuan. Zhejiang Province occupied six spots, while Guangdong Province and Jiangsu Province each had three cities on the list.

Among the new home rankings, Hangzhou is the most expensive, all thanks to Ali (a popular online figure). In addition, even Ningbo ranks ahead of Guangzhou, with the average price of new homes in Ningbo at 13438 yuan and Guangzhou at 12560 yuan.

More than a decade later, the Tianhe District, where Zhujiang New Town is located, with an average price of 100,000 yuan, is now a huge construction site. Although housing prices have risen significantly, the average price is still just over 18,000 yuan.

The most expensive area in Guangzhou is still the old city district of Yuexiu.

If you were reborn before 2010 and had to choose which city to invest in real estate, it would definitely be Guangzhou. In 2004, the average price of a house in Tianhe District was 4800 yuan.

No matter which neighborhood it is, just go in blindly. If it happens to be a demolition site, you'll be even richer.

"Why not buy in Yuexiu District? The living environment there is better. Isn't it too noisy with construction sites everywhere here?"

“We only come here a few times a year, and besides, the construction site will be finished eventually, so let’s buy a house near the company.”

Zeng Jixiang thought about it and agreed. At the same time, he was also thinking about whether he should buy a small apartment in the same neighborhood as his boss, so that it would be more convenient for work.

Hey, we should ask Brother Li about this. He handles most of the boss's little matters. Let's see if he has any better suggestions.

The branch office was located across the street from the experience center. Both sites were under renovation at the time. On the day of Tan Jincheng's inspection, he was accompanied by leaders from the district and the street. Guangdong Province has a highly developed automobile industry, but it also welcomes more investment.

In fact, over the years, Guangdong Province has never given up inviting the Flash Group to invest and build factories here. The fundamental reason is that the entire Flash Group has indeed invested a lot in Guangdong Province.

As Dexian Electronics has grown, it has also developed expansion plans, which both the city and the province hope can be implemented as soon as possible. In Huizhou, they also have an auto parts company, which was acquired from Changfeng Group. With the increase in sales of Weilai Automobile, there is also a need for expansion.

In addition, Tan Jincheng has invested in a large number of Guangdong enterprises through ByteDance's advertising platform. Several of these companies have gone public or are doing very well in the past two years alone, which demonstrates ByteDance's investment capabilities.

If we can leverage the forward-looking nature of this investment to boost the development of businesses in the region, that would be a good thing as well.

For the Flash Group, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta have always been the core areas for business development. So far, except for some uncontrollable factors, Tan Jincheng's industries have basically revolved around these two regions.

"Let's go to Shenzhen, our Boss Lei is still waiting there."

Under the neon lights, Tan Jincheng dragged his slightly tired body into the car, heading to Shenzhen overnight to reduce social engagements.

(End of this chapter)