2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 828 The World's Largest New Energy Vehicle Manufacturer (Seeking Monthly Tickets!)

P.S.: Double monthly tickets! Please give me some more monthly tickets. I wonder if I can set a record of 3000 tickets this month!

The concept of "Internet Plus" was first proposed at the Two Sessions in March this year.

For the first time, the new generation of information technologies, such as cloud computing, big data, and the Internet of Things, which have been frequently mentioned before, and modern manufacturing have been officially included in the government's industrial plan.

Baidu's strategic vision is truly impressive; they started working on these things years ago.

Following his lead in developing industries, one can indeed reap some rewards.

However, Tan Jincheng was not worried about the opportunities and competition in the new industry, but about the things at hand. This time he went to the capital and met many different people, as well as many industry leaders.

According to reliable sources, it is almost certain that Volkswagen will adjust the guide prices of several of its models next month, and it is also very likely to follow suit with the upcoming zero-interest loan policy.

Simply put, the current industry leader is preparing to wage a price war, which is not good news for other car companies.

The sedan market share has been shrinking year after year, while the SUV market has been growing year after year. Volkswagen's Tiguan is one of the main competitors of the Yuechi series. If Volkswagen lowers prices across its entire series and follows up with its previous interest-free policy, it will be a huge test for the sales of the Yuechi series.

Especially regarding the sales of the A3, the specific price reduction by Volkswagen is still unknown, but once the leading brands lower their prices, other brands will basically follow suit, whether they like it or not.

"This is indeed a huge impact. Even if we follow suit and lower our prices, we will still be greatly affected."

After listening to Tan Jincheng's analysis, Gu Qingqing also realized that this was a big challenge for sales. Joint venture brands still have a great advantage over domestic brands. Although the Tiguan has not been as popular as when it was first launched, its sales have always been good.

"Volkswagen had no choice but to lower prices. In the first quarter of this year, their overall sales in China declined by 7.4% compared to last year, which is a very dangerous figure."

Not only in the Greater China market, but also in the global market, Volkswagen's sales this year have declined by 4.8% year-on-year. This figure is not a good sign for a market that is still growing, or for a leading company.

Among the two Volkswagen brands in China, FAW's sales of the CC and Magotan saw the most significant declines, excluding some discontinued older models, with drops of 62.6% and 57.5% respectively.

SAIC's sales, including its main models Lavida and Passat, have declined by 30%.

This is their main model.

"Then what are you going to do?"

"What can we do but follow suit? Anyway, we came up with this interest-free policy, and I plan to implement it across the entire product line starting April 1st."

"Haha, so you're saying it's all your own doing."

That's right. The interest-free policy was first introduced by Wei Lai. At the time, it was to promote the ES6 and the newly launched Aion Y. It was also used on the Yuechi A9, but this car is not a mainstream model, and its sales are basically negligible.

In addition to following the interest-free policy across the entire product line, prices will still be reduced where necessary, even if the price reduction is not publicly announced, dealers will be allowed to reduce prices tacitly.

“It’s not just us who’s having a headache. We only have the SUV segment, so we can afford to compete.”

The most competitive market is still the sedan market. SUVs are becoming increasingly popular, but there are actually only a few models available for purchase. Unlike the sedan market, where there are so many models that it's overwhelming, even the CEOs of companies like Geely and BYD might not be able to remember all of their models.

In addition, Chery has a wide range of models, including those under its joint venture brands.

With a small boat, it's easy to turn around. At Tan Jincheng's command, dealers and 4S stores across the country began to set up new promotional plans, and all models followed suit with 24-month and 36-month interest-free preferential policies before Volkswagen officially announced them.

In addition, different preferential policies have been formulated for each model based on its popularity. This comprehensive discount was not widely publicized, but was gradually implemented in major cities, which still attracted widespread attention.

The fact that Volkswagen is going to lower prices isn't exactly a secret in the automotive industry. Basically, all the competing car companies are keeping an eye on Volkswagen's progress to see when they will launch their price cuts.

This is a common problem for large companies: slow decision-making. Lei Jun once told Tan Jincheng that what he admired most about Tan Jincheng was his extremely fast reaction speed to any slight movement in the market.

Normally, it would take a large company at least a month to respond to market changes, but Weilai can usually control it within 15 to 20 days, which is a very fast response to the market.

After receiving the news from the capital, Tan Jincheng immediately arranged follow-up measures upon his return, including price reductions and interest-free financing. Even though the brand's influence was not as strong as that of joint venture brands, these measures were sure to be effective.

Volkswagen originally planned to wait until the Shanghai Auto Show to announce its price reduction plan, aiming to fire the first shot in this year's promotions. However, Wei Lai's move has clearly disrupted their plans.

Not only did they have to lower prices in advance, but they also lost the title of being the first to launch a promotion.

However, Volkswagen had no choice but to follow suit. On April 8, both Volkswagen companies simultaneously announced official price reductions, lowering the market guidance prices for many of their models and launching interest-free interest-free policies for many models.

Unlike Wei Lai's low-key approach, Volkswagen's official announcement of the price reduction launched a large-scale publicity campaign, covering television, internet, and print media, including offline advertising at 4S stores, resulting in a very significant impact.

Tan Jincheng is all too aware of the consequences of an industry leader initiating a price war. He used the same tactic on FlashCheap back then, and even though it was only a price war in certain provinces, it caused immense suffering for lower-tier manufacturers.

Volkswagen's official announcement has a much greater impact than that of a mid-sized manufacturer like Weilai.

The market was in an uproar. Within a few days, major joint venture brands such as Ford, Hyundai, and GM followed suit, offering a variety of price reductions, including direct price cuts, purchase tax reductions, and interest-free financing.

"Haha, this is really going to be interesting."

If the March car market was only driven by the buzz generated by Weilai's official annual report released on the first trading day of March on the A-share market, then April truly belongs to all car companies.

The price-cutting storm has swept across almost all car companies. Whether manufacturers have taken the initiative to lower prices or tacitly allowed dealers to do so, all brands have joined this war.

"It's all your doing. I noticed that you get really excited in the first half of the year and you always cause quite a stir."

"What does this have to do with me? I just followed suit a little too early. We also had an interest-free policy last year, but not many companies followed suit. Who would care about a small car company like ours? Blame Volkswagen if you want."

At the Shanghai Auto Show, Wei Lai showcased two new models. As his investments in Shanghai have increased, Tan Jincheng has been visiting the city more frequently. He has always enjoyed attending the Guangzhou Auto Show, and this time he made a rare appearance at the Shanghai Auto Show.

BYD also attaches great importance to the Shanghai Auto Show. At the beginning of this year, they formulated a series of new energy vehicle plans. In addition to older models such as the F3, F0 and Qin, BYD plans to launch four more new energy vehicles this year.

The four models are named Tang, Shang, Song, and Yuan, and will be launched in the first, second, third, and fourth quarters respectively. The official price of the Tang, which will be launched in the first quarter, has already been announced.

Starting at 30 yuan (excluding subsidies), the Tang is an SUV model that retains the overall style of the S6 and S7. Just by looking at the model and the price, you can tell which one it is targeting.

The business launched in the second quarter is a seven-seater MPV. It is not well-known and its sales seem to be not very good. It is also known as the M3 DM.

It's understandable that this car isn't well-known; its design is rather incongruous and can be considered a complete failure.

As a seven-seater large MPV hybrid model, its pure electric range is only 60km, and the engine is still a 1.5L. No matter how much you boast about it, it's still a 1.5L.

Why don't you just make the pure electric range a bit higher? That way, you could really brag about it.

In 2015, there were very few pure electric models from the Dizi (a Chinese electric vehicle brand), and most of them were hybrid vehicles. The Qin had some innovative designs, but the S6 and S7 influences could still be seen in SUVs like the Tang, Song, and Yuan.

The suggested retail price for the Song is around 30 yuan, while the Yuan is around 20 yuan.

"Mr. Tan, what are your considerations for extending the interest-free policy to all models under the Weilai brand? Is it because sales are sluggish?"

Tan Jincheng, the founder of Weilai, who appeared at the BYD booth, attracted considerable attention.

Although everyone knows that Volkswagen is planning to lower prices, it is generally accepted that the price war in April was started by Wei.

This reporter is clearly looking to stir up trouble. Every year in the first half of the year, there are always a lot of news stories about Tan Jincheng. When Wei Lai is making annual plans, Tan Jincheng is also more likely to be interviewed by reporters, which is already common knowledge in the industry.

"Of course not. You can see from the data whether it sells well or not. Our overall growth rate is still good. The preferential policies are just to allow both new and old models to enjoy these policies."

The sales figures for Weilai in the first quarter were indeed impressive. The Yuechi series alone sold nearly 90,000 units, and the main models A1 and A3 achieved average monthly sales of over 10,000 units. In particular, the stock market provided Weilai with a significant publicity opportunity in March, leading to a full recovery in sales.

In addition, in the field of new energy vehicles, the combined delivery volume of Aion S and ES6 in the first quarter also exceeded 10,000 units, surpassing Tesla's 10030 units to rank second in the world. In terms of individual models, Aion S ranked fourth in the world with a delivery volume of 6725 units.

In addition, although the new model Aion Y was not officially delivered in the first quarter, the estimated number of orders has exceeded 3000 units.

In terms of overall sales, the sales volume of 11.5 units in Q1 was in line with expectations. Based on this trend, the annual sales target of 50 units for this year is not a problem.

With the boatman by my side, and this being BYD's booth, there's something Tan Jincheng shouldn't boast about.

Starting in March, Weilai has quietly become the world's largest new energy vehicle manufacturer, although Nissan Leaf is still currently the world's number one in new energy vehicles.

However, the fact that WTI's overall sales in the first quarter surpassed Tesla's to become the world's second largest is enough to show that the company has no problems with its strategy.

Well, OPEC stated earlier this month that the market share of new energy vehicles will only be 6% by 2040, which is a joke.

"If it's not that they can't sell, why did your company initiate a price war? As far as I know, the interest-free policy that's currently generating a lot of discussion in the market was also first proposed by your company, right?"

Damn, this reporter is definitely an undercover agent sent by one of the rivals.

Tan Jincheng glanced at the boatman beside him, who also shrugged helplessly. To be honest, the boatman was quite envious of Tan Jincheng. He was the center of attention wherever he went. At this Shanghai Auto Show, the organizers even used him as one of their promotional points after learning that he would be attending.

With the gasoline car market performing poorly, they heavily invested in new energy vehicles. However, last year they felt immense pressure from the new energy vehicle market. The monthly sales of the Aion S consistently outpaced the Qin, and the hot sales of the ES6 also made BYD envious.

To this end, they launched the Tang and Song SUV models, and the Yuan, which will be launched in the fourth quarter, is also a compact SUV with a guide price of 20 to 30 yuan, in order to compete with the ES6.

Although the strategy of the Dizi brand has changed in 14 and 15, its mindset is still stuck in the era of gasoline cars. The new models launched this year have no highlights.

Although both were launched in the first quarter, the Tang's pre-orders were far less than the Aion Y's, and it couldn't compare to the Weilai ES6 at all.

Even in the first quarter, when sales were dismal, the Weilai ES6 was able to maintain an average monthly sales volume of over 1000 units, and the annual sales target is roughly 1.5 units.

Needless to say, the sales of the Aion S are even more impressive. With an average monthly sales volume of 2000 units in the first quarter, it is possible to achieve annual sales of 3 units.

If the production capacity of the Aion Y can keep up, the sales volume of new energy vehicles this year can indeed reach between 5.5 and 6 units.

Based on Welai's annual sales of 50 vehicles, Welai's sales of new energy vehicles already account for between 11% and 12% of its total sales. Even if BYD boasts, it can't compare to them.

He truly holds the leading position among new energy vehicle companies.

"It's to give back to our consumers. We're just a young company that's been established for eight years. Whether we can achieve our sales targets this year depends entirely on the support of our consumers. We made 50 billion last year, so we're making a little less this year to give back to our distributors and consumers."

Tan Jincheng's words almost made the boatman burst out laughing. The reporter pressed on relentlessly, and the guy just spouted off sarcastic and nonsensical nonsense.

This reporter was definitely not arranged by him. Tan Jincheng came to his exhibition area to bring in traffic, so he wouldn't be so unscrupulous. But it must have been arranged by some car company.

A normal interview is definitely not like this.

Tan Jincheng was indeed being sarcastic. The reporters who came to the auto show were all highly professional. Everyone knew who started the price war. Without Volkswagen's large-scale publicity, how could so many car companies have followed suit?

However, this also shows that Wei Lai is becoming an increasing threat to other car companies; otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to the trouble of sending a reporter to annoy him.

This is a good thing.

Seeing that they couldn't get any information, the reporter stopped pressing the issue. They were just doing their job for money, and a few words were enough, but they couldn't really piss the reporter off.

BYD's exhibition area was very large, and Brother Boatman took Tan Jincheng to experience them one by one. Although he was not particularly interested in BYD's newly developed models, Tan Jincheng still felt the intensification of competition. BYD's strategy of launching a wide range of models was still very strong.

They have a significant advantage, especially in hybrid technology.

In the current market, there is a consensus among new energy vehicle enthusiasts: for hybrid vehicles, buy the Qin; for pure electric vehicles, buy the Aion S or ES6; or, if you have the money, you can buy the Maodou S.

Although both companies offer hybrid and pure electric models, the Qin outsells the Aion S in the hybrid segment, while the sales of its pure electric models are the opposite.

As for intelligent driving, there's no need to mention it. It completely outclasses its domestic counterparts, and the only one it can rival is Tesla.

The new Aion Y model will be equipped with the latest intelligent driving system. Starting in April, the older models will also be gradually updated. Currently, some ES6 users have already started the update process.

Furthermore, the ES6 also offers a hardware upgrade program, a feature that leaves its competitors speechless.

The window of opportunity left for his peers has come to an end. Tan Jincheng is too lazy to care how they are doing. Anyway, they have to take the lead. Even the Two Sessions are advocating "Internet Plus". If they don't take the lead now, it will be too late.

Although such a long window of opportunity was provided, it was not without its benefits for Tan Jincheng. Horizon, with its open attitude, developed rapidly during this period and has already received many orders from clients.

In addition, BYD has also invested in and acquired shares in Horizon Robotics. This year, Geely and Chery also intend to cooperate with Horizon Robotics, and their plans are similar to those of BYD.

Unbeknownst to many, Tan Jincheng has already established connections with many peers through Horizon.

"By the way, how's the company you acquired in Southeast Asia going? It's been several months, hasn't it?"

After visiting the BYD booth, Brother Boatman also had to check out the Weilai booth. It's a tradition for corporate executives to visit different booths at auto shows.

Weilai's plan to acquire Proton was secretly operated by Shen Nanpeng's Sequoia Capital starting last year, and then became widely known after being officially notified to relevant departments at the beginning of this year. This is another Zhejiang-based automaker attempting to go global through acquisition, following Geely's acquisition of Volvo.

The progress of the acquisition of Weilai has also attracted a lot of attention, but the details are difficult for the media to find out.

"It's alright, progress is going relatively smoothly."

After nearly six months of negotiations, Proton's management and Weilai's acquisition team have reached a good agreement on the details. First of all, 51% of Lotus's shares will definitely be transferred to Weilai.

Through Lotus, Wei Lai had the opportunity to open up the British Isles market.

Missing out on Land Rover back then still leaves Tan Jincheng with some regret, but now being able to acquire Lotus can be seen as making up for some of that regret.

Regarding Proton's shares, the current negotiation mainly revolves around whether it should be 50% or 49.9%. The Malaysian side is quite concerned about controlling Proton, and Tan Jincheng is the same.

Now it depends on which side is willing to compromise. The Malaysian State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission is very happy about this cooperation. Their suggestion is that if Weilai can accept a 49.9% stake, they can make a further concession on the price.

Tan Jincheng is still considering this point.

The boatman sighed, "Weilai has developed so fast in the past few years. Nobody could have imagined it eight years ago."

Eight years ago, few people would have thought that Weilai could succeed, and some even thought that reaching the annual sales level of 10 units like Zhongtai would be Weilai's ceiling.

"Times are changing, and we must progress as well."

"That's true, haha, your exhibition area is much more lively than ours, you even invited celebrities."

This wasn't the right occasion for a detailed discussion, so the boatman changed the subject.

The exhibition area of ​​Weilai was indeed much more lively than that of BYD. The car models that Weilai hired at the auto show were always a breath of fresh air. Their outfits were not as unconventional as those of other companies, and their makeup was not as exaggerated.

Wei Lai's car models are always one of the highlights of auto shows, but this time at the Shanghai Auto Show, in addition to the car models, Wei Lai also brought Brother Hu to the stage.

The entire exhibition area is bustling with activity right now.

"That's our ES6 spokesperson. We happened to be in Shanghai, so we invited him over to make an appearance. Who knew so many fans would come?"

The entire exhibition area was packed with people, making it difficult for Tan Jincheng and his group to squeeze in.

"Hehe, you really picked a great spokesperson. The image fits the ES6's positioning perfectly. The key is that you're also very lucky. You're really good at choosing spokespeople. When will you recommend one to us?"

It was all just good luck. Just two years ago, Hu Ge was still involved in the theater scene, but in 2014, he had a breakout role on the small screen, with several TV series released in a row that year, all of which achieved very good ratings.

At the end of the year, Hu Ge also won the Best Supporting Actor award at the 21st Magnolia Awards, and his starring role in Life Revelation also ranked fourth among the top ten dramas of the year.

He also won the 'Most Popular Actor Award' in 2014, and his popularity soared.

"No problem, no problem, it's just that I was a bit lucky."

Hehe, 2014 has only just begun. This guy's popularity this year should be the peak of his career. Currently, the two dramas, The Disguiser and Nirvana in Fire, have already started the promotion stage.

The popularity of these two dramas goes without saying; their good days are just beginning.

Hu Ge's fan base has a certain level of spending power, and he also has quite a few male fans. It's possible that when these two dramas are released in the second half of the year, they will boost the sales of the ES6.

Tan Jincheng and the boatman squeezed inside under the protection of security guards. Hu Ge, who was speaking in the middle of the booth, also noticed the change.

Just as he was about to greet him, Tan Jincheng gestured for him to continue, so Brother Hu could only suppress his thoughts and continue.

"Ha, quite dedicated, not bad at all."

Dizi has hired many spokespeople over the years, from kung fu stars to cult leaders, and then to Liu Tao. They even hired Chris Lee in between, changing spokespeople almost every year, but the results were not very good.

Their current spokesperson is a stand-up comedian from Shanghai, who is quite popular, but he's not as dedicated as Wei Lai. He's arrogant and overbearing, and the company plans to replace him this year.

"He is indeed very dedicated. Last time he participated in an event, the organizers wanted to take a photo with him and another car brand when he wasn't paying attention. He quickly turned back after he noticed. Also, if you look at his Weibo posts, they are always the brands he endorses. He is also very careful with his autographs at events."

Speaking of this, I have to complain about a certain "Wolf Warrior". This guy endorsed a certain Zhongxing mobile phone, but the suffix of his Weibo posts was "iPhone".

Zhongxing was furious but there was nothing he could do. These days, celebrities are incredibly powerful. If you really argue with them, you'll be doing them a disservice and their fans will attack your brand image.

(End of this chapter)