2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 1039 "Bring down the tram fare!"

If we don't engage in comparisons, how should Li Xiang handle his first new car launch event?
Tan Jincheng is still looking forward to it.

Li Xiang, with his media background, is an expert in marketing and users. Since he became CEO, the popularity of Weilai Group has been higher than ever before, a feat that Tan Jincheng simply cannot match.

Tan Jincheng's style is to ignite traffic through a single point. When a certain point in time requires traffic, Tan Jincheng will use a hot topic to generate buzz, while in most cases he keeps a low profile.

Li Xiang is different. This CEO, who practically lives on Weibo, can bring a certain amount of attention to Weilai almost every day. Especially after the L9 pre-launch in March, Weilai's search volume on Baidu saw a significant increase.

In addition, Li Xiang's words are sometimes radical, and he likes to argue with Da Zui, so he often sparks discussions. In a sense, Li Xiang and Da Zui are very similar, and they both understand users very well.

"Boss, please tell Mr. Li to be a little more reserved. To be honest, we're really looking forward to how Mr. Li will explain it."

Hu Zhengnan was somewhat excited after hosting the press conference yesterday. The facelift of the ES6 and ES8, along with the significant price reduction, sparked a lot of discussion after the conference.

The ES6, in particular, has seen its price reduced to 30.08 yuan, which has already reached the psychological price point for new energy vehicle users.

30 yuan is the "psychological threshold" for new energy SUVs. The price reduction of ES6 has directly entered the mainstream price range, significantly increasing its appeal to budget-sensitive users. Referring to the case of Tesla Model Y's sales doubling after its price reduction last year, the sales increase of ES6 after the price reduction may reach 50% to 80% in the short term.

The ES6 has consistently maintained an average monthly sales volume of around 4000 units, and its annual sales volume of around 50,000 units is quite stable. As a model priced above 300,000 yuan, this sales volume is absolutely no problem.

The ES6 has accumulated a good reputation among users. This significant price reduction makes it seem to outsiders that the ES6 may have been impacted by L1, and in fact, this is indeed the case. The early release of the 2023 model is indeed due to the impact of L1 on the ES6.

Even without the impact of L1, price reductions for the ES6 and ES8 were planned. Unlike BYD and Geely, which rely on a massive number of brands and a sea of ​​cars, Weilai will focus on improving its existing models to maintain sales volume.

Internally, Weilai has a "10,000-vehicle sales plan," which means that while developing new models, it will also redevelop existing models to maximize the number of models with monthly sales exceeding 10,000 or nearly 10,000 units.

In terms of hybrid power, both the L series and the Galaxy series have this capability, and the Exeed series has been unbeatable since its delivery, never falling below the 10,000-unit monthly sales level. The ET5 in the E series also has this capability when production capacity is at full capacity.

Within the Aion series, the Aion S achieved a remarkable monthly sales figure of over 10,000 units last month, and the Aion Y also possesses similar capabilities. As for the remaining ES series, in our internal opinion, the ES3 and the ES6 after the price reduction also have similar strengths.

As expected, with three models in the E series, two in the Aion series, one in the L series, and one each in the Galaxy and Exeed series, plus some other models, the monthly sales of Weilai New Energy Vehicles can be guaranteed to be at least 10 units.

With an average annual guaranteed sales volume of 120 million new energy vehicles and at least 60 gasoline vehicles, Weilai can guarantee annual sales of at least 180 million vehicles starting in 2023, ensuring a stable basic revenue for Weilai Auto.

Of course, this is contingent on technological advantages and price.

In terms of technological advantages, Weilai has its own advantages in the three electric technologies, and its service is also the best so far. The only shortcoming at present is the price. To bring down the price, it is not about lowering the price regardless of the consequences.

According to Tan Jincheng, by 2022 there will be more and more high-quality electric vehicles, and there will be many high-quality models in the 10 to 15 yuan price range, but the prices are still a bit high.

From a maintenance perspective, the long-term operating costs of trolleybuses are not low; current trolleybuses are still too expensive.

Judging from the model lineup of Weilai's various sub-brands, Weilai has been consistently implementing the concept of driving down the price of electric vehicles. The price reduction of the ES series is entirely part of this strategic plan.

Although Tan Jincheng asked Li Xiang not to use competing products everywhere and to be more restrained in his wording, Li Xiang still had a very good grasp of the entire press conference. Li Xiang, who started his business at the age of 18, was actually a quiet person who didn't know how to talk.

However, through his entrepreneurial experiences and his time at Autohome, Li Xiang's eloquence has been fully honed.

The Weilai L9 continues the concept of family cars. The L series is designed for male users who are "wealthy and family-oriented". As the second model officially launched, the Weilai L9 is positioned as a family intelligent flagship SUV and has many highlights.

With dimensions of 5218X1998X1800 and a wheelbase of 3105mm, all three rows of seats are equipped with electric adjustment and heating functions, targeting the needs of large families with three generations living together, emphasizing space, comfort and intelligent features.

Instead of direct comparisons, Li Xiang used family-themed storytelling to replace parameter comparisons, creating a five-minute micro-documentary to track and record the pain points of a three-generation family's 24-hour commute.

"The idea of ​​using the L9's external power function to cook hot pot and the car refrigerator to store food is great."

Hu Zhengnan has learned a thing or two. Even after "discarding his own skills," Li Xiang still managed to come up with some unexpected marketing highlights, as food has always been a key need for family camping.

In recent years, due to certain special reasons, long-distance travel has become inconvenient, especially for large families. As a result, short-distance camping has become a popular tourist activity.

Taking advantage of the holiday season and relaxed restrictions, families often go camping in the suburbs or at scenic spots to relax and unwind, which has become the most common scenario for family trips.

"It's really good."

Tan Jincheng nodded. Actually, the initial plan was for a family to eat hot pot in their car, but Li Xiang rejected it because it was too abstract, even though it could create a good buzz.

After learning about it, Tan Jincheng felt that it was deserved to be rejected. There's nothing wrong with marketing and creating buzz, but it can't be too abstract. What's the deal with eating hot pot in a car?
Why not say someone poops in the car?

"Hey, I've learned something."

According to Tan Jincheng's plan, he will attend fewer and fewer new car launch events in the future. Therefore, Hu Zhengnan and Li Xiang will lead the team to attend Wei Lai's event, while Wang Fengying will be in charge of Yue Chi's event.

Hu Zhengnan himself will be attending more and more new car launch events, and he really came here today to learn seriously.

In terms of technological highlights, the L9 is equally impressive, featuring a 128-line LiDAR, 5 millimeter-wave radars, and 12 ultrasonic radars, along with 6 eight-megapixel cameras and dual NVIDIA Orin-X chips, achieving a computing power of 508 TOPS.

A video of the nighttime AEB test was also played on site. In terms of power and range, the four-cylinder range extender and dual motors provide a 0-100 km/h acceleration time of 5.3 seconds and a combined range of 1315 km, with a pure electric range of 215 km.

In terms of fuel consumption, it can be as low as 5.9 liters per 100 kilometers, and it comes standard with air suspension and CDC shock absorption, among other highlights. If he were to explain these features, he would choose to demonstrate each technology one by one.

"Each has its own advantages."

Tan Jincheng smiled. Li Xiang didn't explain the technical parameters much throughout the presentation. He didn't mention the lidar or the range extender, and he didn't even mention the numbers when announcing the driving range.

Instead, you can travel from Beijing to Shanghai on a full tank of gas and a full battery without needing to recharge, allowing you to take a spontaneous weekend trip without the need to plan for charging stations.

A range of 1315 kilometers might not seem like a big deal to most people, but the distance between Beijing and Shanghai makes it very tangible. This is especially helpful for older generations and children in families.

"What we need to do is long-term brand building, not short-term hype. Mr. Li's marketing has its advantages, but your technical style is also very necessary. In the future, if you want to create hype, you can also focus on the technical aspects."

Technology and marketing are both indispensable. Marketing alone will not sell for long, and technology alone will not work either. The combination of Hu Zhengnan and Li Xiang is already very good.

A company cannot focus on just one aspect. Often, those car models that emphasize one aspect don't actually have any other highlights. They can only desperately try to make the most of their strengths.

The press conference had many memorable moments. Although he was asked to do so by Tan Jincheng, Li Xiang still had his own personality. When the Weilai L series was jokingly referred to as a refrigerator, a color TV, and a big sofa, Li Xiang generously took out an ice-cold Coke from the refrigerator.

"While BBA car owners are still looking for convenience stores, Weilai car owners are already drinking iced cola in their cars. There's nothing wrong with refrigerators, TVs, and big sofas, is there?"

Without the comparison of parameters that were far ahead of their class, the atmosphere at the scene was somewhat less heated. What the media wanted to see was a marketing approach that was far ahead of the competition, like that of Da Zui, but that didn't happen with Li Xiang.

"Is it still the Wei Lai of President Tan?"

Besides Wei Lai's own KOLs, other media outlets at the scene had also gotten a sense of the situation. Li Xiang was a regular on Weibo, frequently updating his posts, and his popularity on Weibo was much higher than that of Tan Jincheng.

In a sense, in the eyes of a large number of Weibo users and self-media, Li Xiang represents Weilai Motors, while Tan Jincheng, who has kept a relatively low profile in his personal words and deeds in recent years, is more like a "retirement".

It's actually quite idealistic. Since the internet industry underwent a major transformation, well-known internet figures such as Pony Ma, Pony Wu, Ding Lei, Chen Wei, Huang Xin, and Huang Zheng have become much more low-key, with some even publicly resigning from their company positions and completely retiring behind the scenes.

Tan Jincheng, who has experience in the internet industry, was a prominent figure at the Wuzhen Internet Conference a few years ago. However, his resignations from various company positions and his restrained behavior indicate a change in him.

Many people even believe that Tan Jincheng will do the same at Weilai Group, so they allow Li Xiang to exert his influence on social media.

However, at this L9 launch event, the mild-mannered Li Xiang made everyone feel that Wei Lai is still the same Wei Lai. There is confrontation and competition, and there are targeted remarks, but one thing is that he is under the control of Tan Jincheng.

The upcoming Hongtu X7 marketing campaign continues Da Zui's style, but Li Xiang has stopped responding to any of his criticisms. Nobody believes Tan Jincheng is not involved.

"From Exeed to Galaxy, and then to yesterday's price reduction of the ES series, hasn't anyone noticed a problem?"

"In short, we want to bring down the price of electric vehicles so that more and more people can afford them and make them more cost-effective. Making technology accessible to all is not just a slogan."

“Interested friends can check out the cost-effectiveness of Weilai at various price points, as well as our price adjustments over the years. Even during the period when the price of power battery raw materials was at its highest this year, we did not raise prices.” “Weilai has always been committed to fair pricing. Our models are not overly complicated, and we do not use overly complex configurations to fleece customers.”

"Now you all know what I'm going to say, right?"

Finally, we arrived at the most anticipated part: the price. Many blind order customers were present, and everyone was nervous when we got to this part. Some of the blind order customers had just been invited to the stage to share their thoughts on the blind order experience.

"That's right, it's the official starting price announcement. Although the L9 is a blind pre-order, we're still continuing the tradition of announcing the price at the launch event, without leaving any suspense."

"The ES series and L series are both high-end brands of Weilai. The concept we want to convey is that high-end does not mean high price. So, let's guess what the final price of the L9 will be. Viewers in the live broadcast room can also guess."

"We will randomly give away ten Wynn L9 car models to users who guess the correct price."

This was Li Xiang's first time properly managing a new car launch event. He was the main speaker throughout the entire event, and he skillfully managed to control the situation and generate buzz in the live stream without causing any controversy.

These words excited the blind-order customers even more. Based on the previous hype, they expected the L9 to be priced around 50 yuan, which is more than half the price of competing products from BBA (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi).

Even without on-site parameter comparison, L-series users will automatically compare it to BBA (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi) competitors, since the L1 was designed to compete with BBA's sales. Since the L1 became a hot seller, BBA's sales have declined significantly.

"Holy crap, are they going to make less than 45 yuan?"

Yesterday, the price of the ES8 was adjusted to 42.28 yuan. However, the ES8 is a model that has been on the market for many years and is a fully mature model. It has its own advantages in price adjustment, which is something that a new car cannot match.

No one would think that the newly launched L9 would be cheaper than the ES8.

"Hehe, someone actually guessed it."

As Tan Jincheng scrolled through his phone, he actually saw a few comments that guessed correctly or were close to the answer amidst the frenzied barrage of comments.

What Weilai wants to emphasize is fair pricing, using more reasonable prices to boost sales, rather than high-end premium pricing. In the future, Weilai's cars will only become cheaper and cheaper, unlike some mobile phone brands that keep getting more and more expensive.

Although the gross profit margin will be affected, the increase in sales volume and the configuration and service can make up for it. Taking the ES8 as an example, the ES8 after the price reduction is also expected to double.

According to internal model calculations, the ES8 is expected to join the mainstream model club in 2023.

The excitement wasn't limited to prospective L9 owners; it also extended to L1 owners. Yesterday's price adjustments for the ES6 and ES8 were accompanied by a series of compensation mechanisms for existing customers, including cash, coupons, services, and vehicle trade-ins – a truly substantial offer.

If the starting price of L9 exceeds market expectations, then the price of L1 will inevitably be adjusted, and a substantial compensation mechanism will be offered to these existing users.

If the price of the L9 is attractive to L1 users, they wouldn't mind switching cars if there were trade-in offers.

"Alright, enough with the chit-chat. Actually, our L team's initial price for the L9 was 45.98 yuan, including all the discounts mentioned earlier, and without any optional extras."

"However, since the ES team and Mr. Hu have shown their sincerity, we must follow suit."

"42.98 yuan! No hidden extras or extras!"

"The 30,000 yuan saved can be used for one more family trip. The L series embodies the company culture of respecting users."

This time, Li Xiang didn't hold back and revealed the prices of luxury models such as the BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz GLE on the spot, with prices dropping to the 42 yuan level, directly impacting this group of users.

"Fuck!"

When the price of 42.98 yuan was announced, there were exclamations of "Wow!" from the audience. This price is simply outrageous! 42 yuan is only enough to buy the base model X5 with the 20.T engine. The X5 with optional extras costs nearly 70 yuan.

In terms of luxury and intelligence, electric vehicles have a clear advantage over gasoline vehicles.

"This is going to be the end of the world for BBA (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi)!"

The price of 42.98 yuan will not only affect the new car, but also the existing L1 model. With this pricing, coupled with yesterday's adjustment of the ES series, it is almost certain that the price of the L1 will also be adjusted.

For a vehicle manufacturer, price adjustments for its main models are often a systematic process.

The starting price of the Weilai L1 is currently 33.88 yuan. Could it also be reduced to 30.08 yuan?
"You know what, it's really possible. Yesterday's力度 (intensity/strength) was really too much. This June is too exaggerated."

The price war in June, from the replacement of old models to the launch of new cars, saw Weilai launch three models to impact the market. The Nezha S became the first casualty in June and was viewed negatively by the market. Now, Weilai L1 has also reduced its price.

What about the Hongtu X5, the upcoming Hongtu X7, and other range-extended electric vehicles currently on sale, such as Shenlan?
Moreover, what should automakers do now that they have already announced the release of range-extended electric vehicles?
In terms of supply chain advantages, they simply cannot compare with Weilai. Weilai's range-extended electric vehicles can achieve a gross profit margin of over 20%, which is probably only rivaled by Seres, which uses high premiums and is backed by Chrysanthemum.

"Not only that, with this price, the market in the 30 to 50 yuan range is going to be completely transformed."

With its range-extended and pure electric options, Weilai now offers four main models in the 300,000 to 500,000 yuan price range. Even without knowing the price, the Weilai L9 has already secured 30,000 blind pre-orders.

It is certain that once this price is announced, when Weilai reopens pre-sales, it will usher in another pre-sale peak.

"The first batch of 50,000 orders is no problem. In this segment, no one can beat Wei Lai."

If BBA (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi) doesn't work, Tesla doesn't work, BYD's Yangwang (a brand name) doesn't work, and even Geely's Jike (another brand name) sales will be affected. This price war was initiated by BYD and Tesla, but it was Wei Lai who pushed it to its climax.

As one of the price segments with the largest profit margins, Weilai has squeezed this margin to its limit with four models, launching a full-scale attack on traditional luxury brands.

"No doubt about it, Wei Lai is awesome, President Li is awesome, President Tan is awesome, President Hu is awesome."

The starting price of the Weilai L9 caused a stir at the scene, with some people shouting excitedly that the price was more than beyond expectations.

"Haha, I'm glad everyone likes it. Also, the price of the L1 will be adjusted. This will be announced through Weilai's official channels after the press conference. In addition, the compensation mechanism for existing L-series owners will also be announced and pushed out. Please pay attention to the information."

"In addition, after the press conference, the Weilai L9 will be available for pre-order again. Interested users can log in to the Weilai APP to make a purchase."

"Of course, if you don't like this full-size SUV, you can also take a look at our other models."

"Oh, right, I also have some news to share: starting today, the BMW MINI is officially available on the Weilai APP. Interested users can also go in and make a purchase."

This sudden turn of events left everyone at the scene and in the live broadcast room completely bewildered. What does BMW MINI have to do with Weilai? How did it end up on the Weilai APP?

"Some users may not know that the MINI electric models currently on the market are all produced by Weichi Power's Zhangjiagang factory."

"Weichi Power is a joint venture between BMW and Weilai. Weilai holds 50% of the shares in Weiichi Power and is responsible for its production and operation."

After several months of negotiations with BMW, and with the continued surge in sales of the MINI app and its daily active users ranking among the top automakers' apps, BMW finally decided to lower its stance and allow MINI to be listed on the MINI app.

Using Weilai's channels to sell the MINI electric model might look a bit bad, but as long as sales go up, appearances won't matter.

Li Xiang chose to mention the price of the L9 when it was announced in order to maximize the exposure of MINI by taking advantage of the launch event and increase its sales. For every MINI ordered through the Weilai APP, the APP would receive a certain commission.

This commission is completely independent and is equivalent to the platform fee of an e-commerce platform.

As an app with a high daily active user base, Weilai APP is not only satisfying its own channels, but also trying to develop some new business points to increase its revenue and improve its business structure.

Nowadays, the mall on the Weilai APP, which features merchandise related to various car models, has a pretty good GMV, and some co-branded items often sell out.

Compared to the inflated prices of most peripheral products, the prices of peripheral products on the Weilai APP are much more reasonable. For example, an umbrella is priced at only 60% of the price of similar products.

After the press conference ended, the Weilai APP, which reopened pre-sales, experienced a brief outage in the first few minutes.

"No way? Is it really that big of a deal? This is a car that costs over 40 yuan."

Although he knew most people were just watching the show, Tan Jincheng was still somewhat surprised that the app could be brought down. He just didn't know how many orders this would generate. The L9's pre-sale was only open for 72 hours.

(End of this chapter)