2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 913 "A Ten-Year Promise with Users"

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"The entire ES series from Weilai has been reduced by 20,000 yuan, with the ES3 starting at a minimum price of 289,900 yuan!"

On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, just two days before Lunar New Year's Eve, Tan Jincheng dropped a bombshell in the automotive world.

After the price was announced, there was a brief silence at the scene, while the fans of Weilai who rushed to the live broadcast room to watch the news were in an uproar. This live broadcast, which was not promoted, has maintained a stable online audience of over 30 so far.

Most people are already on holiday today, preparing for the Lunar New Year. While the timing of this supplier conference may seem inappropriate, it is extremely beneficial for young users who are resting at home.

Tan Jincheng's speech continued.

“Since its initial delivery, the ES6, as a pure electric vehicle with a market guide price of over 30 yuan, faces competition from the BBA (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi) series of gasoline vehicles.”

After a pause, he smiled and said, "To be honest, this pricing strategy was very risky at the time. Our colleagues had a lot of doubts. How could Weilai compete with century-old car companies like BBA?"

"In fact, it seems that this is indeed the case. In the year the ES6 was launched, only a few hundred vehicles were delivered due to the time constraints. However, in the second calendar year, our total deliveries increased to more than two thousand vehicles."

"Ladies and gentlemen, that was an era when the annual sales of new energy vehicles were less than 20,000 units. This was a great encouragement to us."

"More than 2,000 users have given us great confidence. BBA is our role model. We are a young company and never dare to say that we have surpassed anyone, but we can try to take on the challenge. What if we succeed? Right?"

At this point, Tan Jincheng seemed somewhat excited, or perhaps reminiscing.

Meanwhile, the car owner from Weilai, who was watching the live stream on his computer and phone, was already quite excited.

"Holy crap, is Boss Tan going to unleash his ultimate move again?"

They were quite excited when the ES3's specifications and price were announced. According to the information released, WEI also has another sedan, the ET5, to be released this year. According to information found on the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's website, this should be a B-class sedan, but the specific release date and price will be different.

However, it is clear from the parameters of the ES3 that it is a compact SUV positioned between sedans and mid-to-large SUVs. Weilai, which has a high level of expertise in SUVs, obviously wants to fill this gap in the pure electric vehicle field as well.

Moreover, this thing is very likely to be a direct competitor to Tesla's upcoming Model Y.

Back in 2013, Tesla registered the trademark "Maodou Y" to complete the word "SEXY". However, "Maodou E" had already been registered by Ford in 2000. In 2015, Musk also revealed the plan for "Maodou Y" on Twitter, but quickly deleted it.

From product line and pricing to technology, Weilai is fully benchmarking Tesla. The release of the ES3 has completely revealed Weilai's ambition: to become a high-end brand in the domestic pure electric vehicle market.

The ES3, available in standard and long-range versions, has a suggested retail price of 28.99 yuan. With national and local subsidies, it can be purchased for just over 20 yuan.

With its increasingly mature product line, services, and charging network, it is indeed very appealing!

Judging from Boss Tan's tone now, it seems that the surprise is not just limited to this.

"Holy crap, are they going to copy what he did back when he was at Flash? If that's the case, it'll be defying the heavens."

"Holy crap, are they going to refund users from the first two years?"

Back when Boss Tan was with FlashChe, he did something similar, refunding the first batch of payments to customers with a 6000 million yuan no-threshold red envelope. Although many years have passed, this incident is still fresh in people's minds.

"Dude, you guys weren't among the first owners, were you? You're overthinking it. Back then, Shanchi was all under Tan's control, but now it's a listed company."

"That's right. According to this, the first batch of users will have at least 2500 people. How much money is that? If Boss Tan really does this, the stock price will collapse."

Based on an average market price of 30 yuan, this amounts to a subsidy plan of 7.5 million yuan. Obviously, with so much real money involved, Weilai's stock price will have to fall for at least several days.

"Yes, we can't do that. The stock market is already in bad shape, and if Boss Tan does it this way, I'll lose a fortune."

Before Tan Jincheng could finish speaking, a fight broke out in the live stream, leaving the other company representatives watching on screen speechless. You know what, they were actually afraid that Tan Jincheng would do something like this despite their objections.

Wei Lai doesn't have that much money, but Tan Jincheng does. They're just afraid that Tan Jincheng might suddenly decide to do something like this, which would leave them completely helpless.

Fortunately, Tan Jincheng remained rational, and his subsequent remarks relieved them.

“From delivering a few thousand vehicles a year to now being able to consistently deliver more than 20,000 vehicles a year, with models priced above 300,000 yuan, Weilai has achieved an unimaginable level of success.”

"Today, the total delivery volume of the Weilai ES6 exceeds 50,000 units, making it the first domestically produced new energy vehicle to achieve a delivery volume of over 50,000 units."

From its initial launch until the end of 2017, the growth of the Weilai brand was slow. This was partly due to its high price and partly because the consumer mindset in the new energy vehicle market was still developing, with car buyers largely adopting a wait-and-see approach.

However, with the launch of the WILAY L1 range-extended electric vehicle, WILAY's overall growth trend has changed significantly. The sales volume of 3.2 units in January has given WILAY great confidence.

Besides the luxurious interior and workmanship, and the range-extended electric system that solves range anxiety, a large part of the reason why Weilai's cars are so popular is that they stand out from the competition. Even in 2017, many of the new energy vehicles from other manufacturers could not be called true new energy vehicles.

Oil-to-electric conversions are common, with vans being electrified and sold as new energy vehicles after a haphazard effort. Others are simply A00-class vehicles used to boost sales and manipulate data, resulting in a chaotic market.

Apart from WooLong, BYD, and some BAIC models, there are very few other vehicles on the market that can truly be considered pure new energy vehicles.

A few years ago, consumers didn't understand these intricacies, but after so many years, and with the vigorous promotion by emerging companies, consumers have gained a basic understanding of new energy vehicles.

Trying to fool consumers with the same tricks from a few years ago is no longer as effective.

The decision to introduce Tesla is also closely related to the lack of progress among domestic manufacturers. The market needs new stimuli to get these manufacturers moving and increase their sense of urgency.

Once the market has been cultivated, if you don't strive for progress, others will steal your market share.

"Weilai's success is inseparable from user support. Without the support of these users, our new energy vehicles could not have achieved such success, let alone challenge the goals of BBA (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi)."

"We have always cared a lot about the user service experience, because users are our foundation."

"To give back to our users, Weilai has decided to offer a trade-in service for new energy vehicle owners whose vehicles are more than five years old. The specific details will be announced after the press conference. Please keep an eye on Weilai's official website and official channels."

"I can reveal here that the力度 (intensity/strength) will be much greater than everyone imagines, and the process will be much simpler than the national policy."

"In addition, trade-ins are not limited to the same type of vehicle. Consumers can trade in their ES6 for an ES8, L1, or the soon-to-be-released ES3; of course, trading in for a gasoline vehicle is also possible. Simply put, you can use your existing car as currency to purchase any product from Weilai Auto."

Under the existing trade-in policy, vehicles must be more than six years old to qualify for the trade-in program. By setting the age limit at five years, the policy has relaxed the prerequisites for many car owners to trade in their vehicles for new ones.

In addition, the national-level trade-in program has too many rules. Vehicles older than six years are not eligible for trade-in and the process of obtaining subsidies is also quite complicated. However, the trade-in process for new energy vehicle users here is not so complicated.

If the transfer process is met, the transfer can be completed through the 4S store or the used car company operated by Weizi. After receiving the money, you can trade in your car for a new one. Of course, you can also sell directly to the used car company operated by Weizi in this way.

In terms of price, it is definitely more reasonable than the used car market. Wei Lai's own used car company is more for its own strategic purposes. For example, the cars in better condition can be repaired and used for its own ride-hailing service.

Vehicles in poor condition can be dismantled and used for after-sales service and recycling, etc. Since they are not for profit, the price will not be as fixed. Therefore, some knowledgeable car owners in Weilai prefer to sell their cars to Weilai's used car companies.

However, the used car company in Weilai only buys cars of its own brand; it doesn't accept cars from other brands.

On the other hand, the used car market in Ningbo is notoriously notorious for its murky waters, comparable to Tianjin Port. Buying and selling a used car in Ningbo can be a nightmare, but users in Weilai don't have this problem.

After announcing the specific preferential policies, Tan Jincheng joked, "Actually, my initial idea was to directly refund the purchase price of the first 3000 ES series users, just like I did when I was with Flash Motors."

"However, this amount is too large. We calculated that all the expenses would easily exceed 10 billion yuan. Currently, Weilai's finance department cannot afford such a huge sum of money. This is a huge pressure on Weilai's cash flow, and the board of directors will not allow this to happen."

"In the future, I promise or make a wish here: by the next tenth anniversary, I hope that Weilai will have the confidence to fully refund the purchase price of a certain group of users or the first batch of users of the model that is decisive for Weilai."

"Let's consider this a ten-year promise between me and the users of Weilai. In these ten years, I will do everything in my power to develop and grow Weilai, and strive to give users this kind of return in 2028."

"Of course, we also ask for your continued support. We will use our technology and services to provide better services for car owners and strive to enable everyone to drive cars with higher cost performance."

"Ten years is neither a short nor a long time. I will only be 43 years old in ten years, which is far from the age of retirement. You don't need to worry that I will not keep my promise. There are so many people here and in the live broadcast room who are witnessing this."

At this moment, in the live broadcast room, as Tan Jincheng announced his preferential policies one after another, the scrolling speed of the public screen was too fast for industry onlookers like Brother Boatman to keep up with, while the reporters who could not come to the scene and could only wait in the live broadcast room were even more excited.

The screen was filled with scrolling messages like "Boss Tan is so generous!" The first batch of car owners, who were initially somewhat disappointed, were now excited.

The first batch of owners who bought the Weilai ES6 were already well-off. The reason they had this idea was because the pace of the live broadcast gave them something to look forward to. However, it was already good to be able to trade in their old cars for new ones at such a great price, especially since Weilai had further relaxed the age restrictions for the cars.

Introducing a trade-in program can speed up the process of replacing old cars, which is very attractive to owners of older models.

In fact, these old car owners have long had the idea of ​​changing cars. The earliest delivery of the ES6 dates back to 2011, which is almost eight years ago. No matter how many OTA updates are done, the parts from eight years ago are quite different from those now.

Furthermore, some entirely new intelligent driving systems do not support OTA updates for an eight-year-old model. If the hardware cannot keep up, it is difficult to achieve better intelligent driving testing through OTA updates alone. This is a limitation of the times, and even though Tan Jincheng has knowledge of electric vehicles from the future, he cannot solve this problem.

In fact, Weilai's electric vehicle technology is now far ahead of domestic companies, comparable to or even slightly ahead of Tesla in terms of intelligent driving experience. They have made improvements in visible aspects such as exterior design and interior, and they are not careless in unseen aspects either.

These are all important factors contributing to the hot sales of Weilai New Energy Vehicles; otherwise, given the current market size, the Weilai ES and L series would not be able to sell so well.

Of course, Wei Lai will not release all the technology he has at once, and I believe that all manufacturers would do the same.

Since it was a conference for suppliers and dealers, not a true launch event, the appearance of the Weilai ES3 was more like a warm-up. Its real debut will be at the Geneva Motor Show in early March and the Shanghai Auto Show in April.

Since the Shanghai branch officially went into operation, Weilai has gradually started launching new cars at the Shanghai Auto Show. On the one hand, the Weilai brand is indeed popular in the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai region, and on the other hand, it is also to facilitate headquarters control.

In the northern market, Weilai focuses its operations primarily on the Wangfujing experience store. Of course, Weilai also attaches great importance to the Beijing Auto Show, but the focus is different.

For automakers, major international auto shows are essential and must be taken seriously.

In addition to the ES3 making its official debut at major auto shows, another sedan that Weilai will be launching this year, the ET5, will also make its official debut at major auto shows.

To be honest, when he saw the ET5's appearance in his past life, he was truly amazed; it was indeed beautiful.

Therefore, if the new model continues the family design language, Tan Jincheng still chose to bring over what he considers to be the best-designed domestic pure electric vehicle.

In any case, the overall language is consistent.

To be honest, this car sold very poorly in its previous life. You could often see ES6s on the streets of Ningbo, but ET5s were rarely seen, and its monthly sales never seemed to have ever been outstanding.

However, Tan Jincheng believes the problem isn't with the car itself, but rather with its pricing and marketing strategy. Comparable to the Model 3, it's priced at 300,000 to 400,000 yuan, relentlessly pursuing a high-end image. The Model 3, for example, has sold for as low as 250,000 or 260,000 yuan. The inflated price, coupled with significant price cuts after about six months on the market when sales faltered, severely damaged its resale value, leaving existing owners resentful and the market unconvinced.

While it's true that the car primarily targets young users, given the income levels in China, a car costing 200,000 to 300,000 yuan is practically the ceiling for most families.

The significant price reduction less than six months after its launch is a major blow to family users.

This price adjustment by Weilai only applies to the two ES series models. The L1, which has been on the market for a short time, has not been affected by any price adjustment. In addition, the Aion series has been on the market for quite some time, and its price will be adjusted later depending on the situation.

The first batch of users have been using the service for many years, so they are psychologically able to accept a price reduction at this point, which is also in line with market rules.

With its inflated pricing and subsequent blind price cuts in the face of poor sales, the ET5's marketing strategy was flawed from the start. Coupled with the emergence of competing products, it not only failed to compete with the Tesla Model 3, but also completely crushed its domestic counterparts.

Another point is Tan Jincheng's feeling. Based on the information he learned in his previous life and his interactions with Li Bing in this life, he always felt that this guy didn't seem to care that much about sales, and was just focused on developing his battery swapping method, which had great potential.

Weilai's losses were the most severe among the three major emerging car companies in the previous era. Battery swapping was the main reason, but the low sales volume was also an unavoidable problem. If a car company's sales volume is low, it is simply a disaster.

In this life, Li Bing is much the same as in his previous life, except that the company has changed its name and he is still working on his battery swapping model. He also spends money lavishly and travels the world to hold press conferences.

That said, Li Bing is currently contacting investment institutions all over the world, striving to get Wenjie listed this year. At the current pace, it should be able to go public in August or September.

That old guy is really something. It took him about four years from preparation to establishment to take the company public without selling a single car. He's got a whole bunch of tricks up his sleeve.

That's fine, though. Then I can sell my shares. This guy spends money like crazy. Even someone like him, a "cash king" with a lot of liquid assets, is a little shocked. His spending spree is just too extravagant.

Of course, he was well aware of the ins and outs behind this, but as a small shareholder, he couldn't care less. Even if he lost everything, it didn't matter, since there were bigger suckers taking the fall for him.

On the other hand, Li Bing was saved by the Luzhou government in his previous life, otherwise he would have gone bankrupt. I just don't know what he should do after he runs out of money in this life.
Luzhou now has Jianghuai and Weilai. Jianghuai, the parent company, goes without saying, and now with its cooperation with Volkswagen, it has an additional identity. As for Weilai, its investment in Luzhou over the years has been enormous, whether in power batteries or automobile factories.

Since 2007, Tan Jincheng has invested tens of billions of yuan in Luzhou, turning a large area of ​​wasteland into a new energy industrial park. Now, with its scale and the maturity of the industrial chain, it is ready to attract more investors and manufacturers to settle in.

For example, BYD intends to plan an industrial park in Changfeng, along with JAC, Weilai, BYD, Volkswagen, Ankai Bus, and some of Chery's production capacity (Chaohu).

From complete vehicles to parts to the aftermarket, Luzhou already has its own complete industrial chain, so Wenjie under Li Bing is no longer as needed.

Whether he will still be able to save him is another matter entirely; it's just unknown whether Li Bing will be able to find his white knight again.

尉来ET5的定价应该是介于20万元至30万元之间的，在20万元至30万元的区间根据市场情况调节价格，这样才是这辆车型的区间价位。

If Li Bing had set the price at around 25 yuan from the beginning, coupled with their battery rental policy, it would definitely have been highly competitive in the market. Whether it could beat the Model 3 is unknown, but it would definitely be able to compete with domestic rivals.

At least the sales won't be that dismal.

From 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., Tan Jincheng spoke for a full three hours, but the more than 1000 audience members at the scene and the online users in the live broadcast room did not find it boring. Boss Tan was full of energy for three hours.

In addition, this supplier conference had so many highlights: the refreshed 2018 ES6 and ES8 models all saw price reductions of 20,000 yuan, and a newly unveiled compact pure electric SUV with a starting price of 289,900 yuan.

Although it is a compact SUV, this car has many highlights, taking into account all aspects such as appearance, interior, power performance, intelligent driving, space and practicality.

Most importantly, the selection is very convenient, with only the standard version and the long-range version available. Unlike some car companies that offer a whole bunch of fancy features for a single model, which causes great confusion for users when making a choice.

In addition to the car itself, Mr. Tan also introduced their fast charging technology today, which was one of the highlights of today's press conference.

尉来的快充技术峰值功率约120到150KW，采用400V电压架构，30分钟之内可以充至80%。

This is far superior to the mainstream solutions currently on the market. Take the BMW i3 as an example, this model has a fast charging power of 50KV, and can be charged to 80% in 40 minutes.

Of course, this is just Mr. Tan's introduction, and the specific effects are still unclear. The habit of car manufacturers to boast is well known to both the media and car users.

Whether it's bragging or not is another matter, the main issue is that Weilai's supercharging station coverage is currently quite low. There are only 1300 Weilai supercharging stations worldwide, and insufficient coverage is the main reason.

However, Mr. Tan said that in the future they will build more supercharging stations, and also upgrade technical bottlenecks such as battery durability, so as to make charging no longer a problem that restricts the development of electric vehicles.

"That's just bragging. Who can say for sure when it will be realized? But it does fit the theme of cost reduction I mentioned before. Technological iteration is the best way to reduce costs."

After the press conference ended, Tan Jincheng, who had been speaking for three hours, was still full of energy. He did not hide anything when facing Wang Fengying's questions about fast charging technology.

This left Li Shufu and Wang Fengying, who had prepared many questions, at a loss for words.

Kruger, standing to the side, burst into laughter: "I believe in you, Tan. You're a man of ideas."

On stage, Tan Jincheng said he wanted to compete with BBA (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi). Kruger did not feel offended. On the contrary, he admired the young man's courage. If he didn't even have the courage to compete with well-known companies, then he wouldn't be worthy of BMW's cooperation.

Furthermore, the other party did not intend to offend in their words and even highly praised the idea.

"Thank you for believing in me."

I can't believe it myself. If the charging problem could be solved so easily, Li Bing wouldn't even be in the business. However, promoting fast charging technology is also part of the technological roadmap.

After all, in places where battery swapping is not possible, the biggest demand of car owners is to be able to charge faster, which does not conflict with Li Bing's battery swapping model.

"Let's go back and rest. I won't talk to you today. You young people are so energetic; you've been talking for three hours and you're not tired at all."

Li Shufu had a lot to say, but it was obviously inconvenient in front of Wang Fengying, Kruger, and the others. Besides, the kid had been talking for three hours already, and it would be a bit unfair to ask him to talk about things at this point.

"Okay, I'll go see Mr. Li tomorrow morning."

It was already past ten o'clock. Although he was still in good spirits, it was certain that his throat was a little sore. Ever since Steve Jobs and his Apple became popular, this kind of press conference format has quickly become popular in the domestic mobile phone industry and then spread to other industries.

Tan Jincheng has given many speeches at press conferences like today, but this is the first time he has given a three-hour presentation by himself. He has been preparing for this speech for a long time.

"Okay, go back and get some rest."

After exchanging greetings, Li Shufu went back to his hotel to rest. Kluge was also leaving. The two had discussed the German factory construction plan with Jinshidai for the past few days and would continue to explore specific plans after New Year's Eve and report to the governments of both countries.

After the two governments approve the deal, a large battery purchase order of approximately 40 billion euros will be placed into Jinsheng New Era's coffers.

In 2017, Weilai's power battery business generated total revenue of 200 billion yuan and profits of approximately 40 billion to 43 billion yuan. Both net profit and revenue saw growth of over 30%, although the overall growth was not as strong as in 2016, it was still quite considerable.

A net profit margin exceeding 20% ​​fully demonstrates that this business is truly profitable. Compared to the gross profit margin of automobiles, the power battery business, which has mastered core technologies, will be one of the most profitable businesses in the future.

However, profits in 2018 may not be as high, as rising raw material costs, changes in the international situation, and continued increases in investment are all factors that constrain profits.

After Li Shufu and Kluge left, only Wang Fengying remained.

"Where will Mr. Wang spend the Spring Festival this year? Beicang or back in Hebei Province?"

Wang Fengying is also representing Great Wall Motors at the Weilai Supplier Conference. Great Wall Motors and Weilai have many collaborations in parts and components. Great Wall Motors and Weilai are probably the most direct competitors. The SUV market is fiercely competitive, but it does not affect their cooperation in parts and components supply.

To put it bluntly, if you don't make this money, there are plenty of others who will. The market is not without alternatives. Even though Weilai has a great advantage in the supply of power batteries, it is easy to find alternatives if you really want to.

"Let's go back to Hebei Province. Zhang Li will come back with me. Mr. Tan, you don't have any objections, do you?"

There was so much information today, I imagine Mr. Wei already knows. Wang Fengying still needs to go back and discuss it with Mr. Wei. As for going home for the New Year, to be honest, that's just a side thing.

"Of course, no objection. No matter how busy we are, we should always make time to get together with our families during traditional holidays. So, I wish Mr. Wang and his family a Happy New Year in advance."

"Thank you, and I wish Mr. Tan and his family a Happy New Year. Is there anything else you'd like to say to me, Mr. Tan?"

"Huh? Isn't it a bit early to talk about this now? I imagine Mr. Wang hasn't made a decision yet? I can wait, or rather, Mr. Wang can wait until the earnings season when our financial reports come out and then carefully study our business system before making a decision."

Some things really can't be rushed. Although Haval lags behind Yuechi in the gasoline SUV market, its sales are still quite impressive, and Haval's share of Great Wall's sales has been very high in recent years.

As for the new energy vehicle market, it is not Great Wall's strength. Although Wey has a strong promotional effort, it still cannot shake the position of the Weilai series in the high-end new energy vehicle market. Not to mention Wey, even BYD, which is also focused on new energy, cannot shake the position of the Weilai series. It can only compete with the Aion series for the low-end and ride-hailing market.

BYD's Qin series has begun to threaten the position of the Aion series in several provinces. The Qin series, which has lowered its price point, is now also focusing on the ride-hailing market and trying to seize the B-end users of the Aion series.

Wang Fengying smiled and said, "That's true. Then I'll be going now. Mr. Tan, you're busy."

"Ok."

They all left from backstage, but Tan Jincheng, as the host, couldn't leave from backstage. He still had to deal with the media. This family had gone to great lengths to come to Ningbo during the Lunar New Year, so he couldn't just let them leave without saying anything.

"Everyone, when you mention our intelligent driving system in your reports, please don't take things out of context. Remember to repeat my exact words. Safety is extremely important, and we absolutely cannot be careless about it."

"Weilai's current level of intelligent driving is not capable of autonomous driving; it can only play an auxiliary role, helping users to better control the vehicle and bring a better experience."

"Users still need to concentrate while driving and cannot blindly trust intelligent driving."

The media always likes to sensationalize and take things out of context. Everything else is fine, but what Tan Jincheng fears most is their misinterpretation of information about intelligent driving, which could mislead users and cause serious trouble.

After readily answering several questions from the media, Tan Jincheng continued to emphasize this point: currently, no car company or third-party R&D team can truly achieve autonomous driving, not even Baidu.

There's nothing wrong with bragging, but some bragging shouldn't be done carelessly.

"I understand, I understand, safety comes first."

The reporters echoed his sentiments, whether they actually listened or not was another matter, but they were quite satisfied with Tan Jincheng's attitude, so their trip was not in vain.

On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, online platforms including Autohome, Yiche, China Auto News, and Autohome, as well as authoritative print media, simultaneously published a special report entitled "A Ten-Year Promise" on their official websites and WeChat public accounts.

Despite it being the Lunar New Year, Wei Lai's press conference still caused a huge sensation.

"Haha, with Boss Tan's move, many people won't have a good New Year."

(End of this chapter)