2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 1050 "A Mobilization Rally with a Budget of 200 Million Yuan!"

"Will there be a celebration for Wei Lai? Yes."

When Weilai announced its sales figures for the entire year of 2022, it also released the 2022 Weilai Group Green Footprint Report, which caused a stir on the internet.

Of the 186.35 million new energy vehicles sold, WILAY's pure electric vehicles accounted for more than 80% of the sales. Compared with BYD's 133 million sales, WILAY's advantage in the pure electric vehicle field is very obvious.

Hybrid vehicles account for more than 50% of BYD's sales, which seems balanced. However, its leading position in a certain area compared to its competitors is what capital and the consumer market value more.

Unlike BYD, Weilai not only achieved sales of over 180 million new energy vehicles but also 61.65 gasoline vehicles, bringing its total sales to 248 million vehicles. In terms of business balance, Weilai is even better than BYD.

"Overall sales surpassed BMW, ranking first in China and tenth globally!"

BMW's total sales in 2022 reached 240 million units, ranking eleventh. These two closely cooperating automakers together account for 6.2% of the global market share.
"Weilai's internationalization strategy has begun to show results, with domestic brands entering the top ten in global sales for the first time, and new energy vehicles showing strong momentum."

"A new king has ascended to the top, and Wei Lai has entered the top ten globally!"

Compared to the "leading companies" of previous years, the Weilai Group in 2022 is even more deserving of the title of leader, as the top ten companies in the world have always been occupied by multinational corporations such as Toyota, Volkswagen, and General Motors.

Prior to this, the highest ranking of domestic car companies was the top 15 in the world. The strong explosion of the new energy vehicle market not only led to a surge in sales for car companies such as WILTE and BYD, but also helped WILTE enter the top ten in the world, which is of great significance.

With the help of the new energy vehicle sector, China's automotive industry is officially transforming from a major automobile producer to a leading automobile power.

On social media, Weilai Auto has been trending for several days. Tan Jincheng, who is active on Douyin, also posted a celebratory video. Douyin users asked in the comments section whether Weilai would have any celebratory activities.

Of course, there should be a celebration. Tan Jincheng also responded positively, saying that the significance of reaching the top ten in the global industry is very clear to everyone at Weilai. Weilai, which focuses on a single market, has been able to achieve this, and no longer needs to depend on international giants.

However, before the video was released today, Wei Lai did not intend to celebrate in a big way, but only on a small scale. But a few days later, CCTV's new energy documentary included a segment about Wei Lai, and CCTV needed Wei Lai to make a bigger splash to cooperate with their publicity.

Tan Jincheng had already seen the documentary in advance. In the documentary co-produced with CCTV, Tan Jincheng appeared on camera to explain the philosophy of Weilai. In order to add some background information to Weilai Motors, CCTV moved the filming timeline of this documentary to 2005, which is the beginning of the establishment of Flash Technology.

Two-wheeled electric vehicles are also a new energy source. From a small workshop in Beicang District to a simple factory in Luzhou High-tech Zone (the predecessor of Jinshidai), and then to a smart super factory in Ningbo, the documentary shows Tan Jincheng's 18-year experience in the new energy field.

This documentary will not only be broadcast domestically, but will also be released internationally on YouTube, covering the European, American, Japanese and Korean markets, which is a cultural export.

In addition, the tree-planting project, a collaboration between Orange Group, Ali Group, and Weilai Group, has also been launched simultaneously. The forest planting project, which Kaixin.com initially launched to maintain its reputation by helping farmers, has received a positive response from Ali.

At the time, Orange Technology had limited financial resources and could not afford large-scale planting in desert areas. Small-scale operations were not very effective, so they cooperated with Lao Ma, who was also interested. Later, Weilai Group also joined in.

For every new energy vehicle sold, Wei Lai donates a tree. In 2022 alone, he donated a total of 186 million trees.

After Lao Ma's reputation reversed, many people criticized him, but this planting project received almost unanimous praise. Over the years, many deserts have been transformed into oases. Internet companies have seen their reputations decline, but they have indeed made significant contributions to society.

Needless to say, Orange and Ali are examples of this. Even Pinduoduo, whose reputation has almost never been good, has helped many agricultural growers over the years with the agricultural assistance projects it took over from Orange Technology. In addition, to be fair, Pinduoduo does not offer online loans, which shows that Huang Zheng is quite restrained in this regard.

For publicity purposes, major social media platforms need traffic, and netizens who have just finished their three-year term need an outlet for their pent-up emotions. At this time, any slight non-cooperation will be met with attacks.

"Ultimately, everyone has their own needs, so we have no choice but to hold a big event."

"Yes, our budget is a bit too high this time, boss, take a look."

Speaking of this, Li Xiang also had a shrewd look on his face. If we're talking about being "stingy," then among all the senior executives of Weilai, it has to be Li Xiang, the CEO. Since taking office as CEO, he has done the most to reduce costs in various ways.

This caused some dissatisfaction internally, but overall it was acceptable, as it significantly reduced Weilai's operating costs. Tan Jincheng, using his position as chairman, used the savings to distribute bonuses to employees on a quarterly basis.

The two men, one playing the good cop and the other the bad cop, worked together very well internally. They used the savings from operating costs to give out bonuses, which was a way of taking from the employees and using it for the employees. Although the employees had some complaints, they were still motivated to work hard when they thought about the bonuses.

To be fair, although Li Xiang was stingy, he didn't make any changes to employee salaries. In fact, he even raised the standards set by Tan Jincheng. Despite the cost-cutting measures, he still knew he should maintain Wei Lai's reputation in terms of treatment.

"Two hundred million? Holy crap, that's a lot; oh well, let's celebrate for once."

Tan Jincheng, who took over the cost accounting, was also surprised. In recent years, Weilai had canceled some of the extravagant press conferences, and the press conference venues were mainly simple. When participating in exhibitions, they tried to reduce the budget by acting as a subsidiary.

Spending 200 million RMB to hold a "victory celebration" might not have mattered to Tan Jincheng in the past, but in the current environment, it still hurts him a little.

"Won't this raise some questions?"

Although he signed the agreement, Tan Jincheng added that everyone has a tough time these days. People may not say anything about normal R&D investment by companies, but extravagant celebrations have long been swept into history with the decline of the internet industry.

"There will definitely be some, but our situation is different from that of internet companies. We are an advanced manufacturing company."

With sales of 248 million vehicles and the construction and commissioning of overseas factories, Weilai's workforce has expanded rapidly this year, with R&D personnel alone increasing by 40%. The group's total workforce is approaching 30, of which the overseas team accounts for about 4.5, or nearly 15%.

Sometimes, there are things you can't control even if you want to. Next year, the scale will continue to grow. In fact, it's not just Tesla. Tesla, which has always prided itself on automation and likes to play with automation, will have nearly 14 employees worldwide in 2022.

“You’re right; alright, let’s get on with it.”

With over 25 employees nationwide, and the ability to drive upstream and downstream industries, plus employee benefits that are higher than those of domestic counterparts, what's wrong with indulging in a little luxury occasionally?
This time, the celebration party planned by Weilai adopted a combination of the Ningbo headquarters and online live broadcast. The headquarters featured a fireworks show and drone performances, as well as a display of Weilai's historical models and a sharing of the company's growth history.

"The focus is mainly on the interaction between suppliers and users, with less emphasis on performance programs."

A large-scale celebration can strengthen the cohesion of employees and dealers internally, and drive them to achieve higher goals. Externally, it can convey the brand's influence to C-end users and demonstrate its leadership in the field of new energy to B-end users.

For the company, this is not just a celebration, but more like a rally to rally its determination. The company's sales target for 2023 is quite high.

"It's getting late, why don't you go back first?"

After discussing the specific plans with the planning team, Tan Jincheng went home after get off work. Once home, he said somewhat apologetically to his parents, wife, and children.

The "Champion's Night" celebration party in Weilai is scheduled for January 15th, which is the 1th day of the twelfth lunar month. This timing avoids the clash between CES 2023 and the Spring Festival, allowing for better media coverage while also giving most employees time to enjoy their holiday.

除了1月15日在总部举行的发布会之外，还有16号至18号的全国20座城市经销商以及车主的联动，一场为期四天的大联欢。

"No need, we'll go back with you on the 26th of the twelfth lunar month. Anyway, you've already sent people ahead to make preparations."

Comrade Lao Tan is relatively free. He and his wife are both of retirement age, and their family foundation has long been on track, so they basically don't need to participate in its operation.

The youngest of the family, Tan Jinqin, is already seven years old, and their youngest daughter is in college this year. It can be said that if it weren't for the special circumstances of the past three years, the couple would be incredibly carefree, able to go wherever they want to play.

"Yes, there are drone and fireworks displays, we'd be missing out if we didn't see them live."

The graceful Tan Jinyue will be entering university life after this summer vacation, majoring in information security at the University of Science and Technology of China in Luzhou. Taking the college entrance examination next year is just a formality, an experience for her.

In fact, as soon as Tan Jinyue entered high school, countless universities invited her to study through Tan Jincheng. These included many prestigious foreign universities. After careful consideration, Tan Jincheng decided to send her to Luzhou.

The academic and business atmosphere at USTC is relatively balanced. In addition, the Wei Lai Research Institute and the Orange Research Institute have many close collaborations with USTC. Luzhou can also be considered Wei Lai's home ground, so he feels at ease leaving his sister there.

The locals in Ningbo and Hangzhou felt a bit resentful about the school Tan Jinyue attended. Compared to Ningbo, which was somewhat self-aware, Hangzhou was a bit envious, as Mr. Tan, who had always been committed to investing in education, was quite generous.

His younger sister is pursuing a bachelor's and master's degree together, which takes several years in total. How much resources and funding must she have received? Besides the need to balance academics and business, choosing HKUST is also largely due to HKUST's low-key approach, which is quite in line with Tan Jincheng's current situation.

"Okay, then watch the drone fireworks show together before you head back to your hometown."

The registration and announcement of large-scale events in Ningbo City, along with the event promotional posters from Weilai, have already made this performance featuring 3000 DJI drones a viral sensation across the internet.

"By the way, keep a low profile when you go to school, don't cause me any trouble."

But Tan Jinyue, who was surrounded by love and privilege from birth, is bound to be arrogant.

Putting everything else aside, the wealth accumulated from the stocks under her name alone makes her a complete little rich woman. She lives a top-tier life, having been well protected since childhood. Tan Jincheng is genuinely afraid that she will cause trouble for him when she goes to school.

"I know, you've emphasized this so many times, I won't reveal my identity."

Tan Jinyue secretly rolled her eyes. She wasn't afraid of anyone in the family. She was a little tyrant in front of her nephews and nieces. Her sister-in-law treated her kindly. The only person she was afraid of was her brother. Although her brother was also very good to her, he was very strict. Her brother with a stern face was still quite scary.

"Yes, study hard at school. If you need anything, you can ask your brother Xuhui for help."

The Tan family has a certain academic gene; while not top-tier, getting into university is no problem. In his previous life, his younger sister wasn't affected by him and still got into Southeast University. His youngest cousin also got into a 985 university; only he himself didn't attend. In this life, Tan Jincheng doesn't have much time to care about his sister's grades, but with elite education, even if she's not good enough for USTC, he believes she'll be close. So even if it's exposed, he's not afraid.

One netizen's joke is quite accurate: those who can pass the college entrance exam are simply no match for those diploma mills abroad.

On the evening of the 15th, the "Peak Moment" celebration officially began at the headquarters of Weilai. At the same time, the Weilai APP, WeChat live broadcast account, and Douyin (TikTok) platforms also started live broadcasting simultaneously.

"Here he comes, Mr. Tan is here to show off."

"I wonder what surprises Mr. Tan will give us tonight. It's been a long time since Mr. Tan has been so high-profile."

Once upon a time, Tan Jincheng, who was active on the internet, was similar to other internet people. He had his high-profile moments and this wasn't the first time he had shown off. However, in recent years, such occasions have become less and less frequent. He even rarely attends car launch events in person anymore.

The moment the live stream started, more than 600 million viewers flooded into the three major platforms, including more than 220 million viewers through the exclusive channel for car owners on the Weilai APP. Today's celebration is not just a celebration, but also includes a technology release and a speech by Tan Jincheng.

Of course, the drone show at the end of the event was also what the viewers in the live broadcast room were most looking forward to. The advancement of drone technology makes every large-scale drone show event highly anticipated.

While Wei Lai's performance with 3000 DJI drones wasn't the largest ever, it was still highly anticipated. The spectacle of lights and animations, besides Wei Lai's own promotion, was also heavily promoted by DJI behind the scenes.

Speaking of which, Gu Qingqing still owns some DJI shares. Although she only invested 100 million yuan, the returns are not small. However, it is quite difficult for DJI to go public. In the early stages, DJI, which was short of money, released a lot of shares. If it were to go public without thinking, it would be like doing a favor for the capital. Over the years, the founding team has been trying to buy back the shares.

The event officially began at 7:00 AM. First, leaders gave speeches, and relevant leaders from Ningbo City affirmed Wei Lai's contribution to Ningbo's GDP. Industry leaders also recognized Wei Lai's achievements.

"When will Boss Tan come on stage? I saw several big shots and even some celebrities."

"Holy crap, Big Mouth is here? Businessmen are all the same, so what if they argue fiercely online?"

"Hey, the boatman is here too, and Li Bing is here too. Is this a meeting of people from Anhui province?"

The viewers in the live stream had no inhibitions and dared to say anything. They didn't even bother to listen to the leaders' speeches and engaged in all sorts of creative interactions on the public screen.

In addition to inviting some leaders from Ningbo and the industry, Weilai also extended invitations to its peers, partners, suppliers, distributors, etc. However, everyone is busy at the end of the year, so few were able to attend in person, and most participated via video link.

For example, He Xiaopeng, Shufu Ge, etc. Tan Jincheng did not expect that Boatman Ge could participate. In addition, Da Zui's participation surprised him even more. They are all very busy people. Li Bing, on the other hand, had confirmed that he would participate a long time ago.

In his words, Ningbo is not far from Shanghai. You can drive there after work without any delay and you don't even need to plan your trip.

When will my brother appear?

Despite her fear, Tan Jinyue still admired her brother very much. Sitting next to Gu Qingqing, she asked in a low voice.

"Almost there, next one. Don't move, there are live cameras."

The family sat in a corner, and the live stream camera deliberately avoided them, but Gu Qingqing was still very careful, because if she accidentally filmed them, it would be a bit troublesome.

"Oh, brother, you're so stingy. All the celebrities you hired are just spokespeople. Couldn't you have chosen some that I like?"

With an indifferent expression, Tan Jincheng glanced at the performance guest area. It was full of celebrities born in the 80s and 90s. Apart from Liu Yifei, whom she was familiar with, none of them were people she, a person born in the 2000s, liked.

Gu Qingqing smiled but didn't answer her.

"Thank you to the leaders, and also to Mr. Wang, Mr. Yu, Mr. Li, and all the supplier representatives who have taken time out of their busy schedules to come to the event. Today is the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, and I would like to extend my early New Year greetings to everyone."

After a half-hour speech by the leaders, the celebration reached its climax with the appearance of Tan Jincheng, who was dressed in work clothes.

Tan Jincheng cupped his hands in greeting and then smiled at the live stream camera, saying, "Here, I wish all the viewers in the live stream a Happy New Year, and I wish all the owners of Weilai cars a Happy New Year as well."

"Viewers in the live stream should have noticed that we enabled the tipping function this time. It's strange, isn't it? Let me explain here first: all the revenue from tonight's live stream will be donated to a charity fund. In addition, Wei Lai and I personally will also donate an equivalent amount of the live stream revenue."

In the live stream, the chat was refreshing very quickly, mostly with people teasing Tan Jincheng for being "stingy." Although the tipping function was enabled, each customized gift was priced at one yuan, the same price across the three major platforms, with no high-priced gifts available.

"The global sales of 186 million vehicles is not only an achievement for Weilai, but also for the entire domestic industry and our industry chain. Here, I would like to thank everyone in the industry chain for their contributions, thank BYD, thank China and Seres, and also thank Tesla and many other industry peers."

"The joint efforts and intense competition among our peers, along with our shared goals, have enabled us to progress together and inspired us to move forward. 186 million vehicles is the starting point for Weilai, and also the starting point for new energy vehicles."

The camera then panned to the boatman and Big Mouth sitting in the audience, who were clapping with smiles on their faces.

Wynn, BYD, and Tesla are the three giants of the global new energy vehicle industry, while Seres is the fastest-growing new energy vehicle brand this year. The sales growth of these four companies has been very large this year, which to some extent represents the new energy vehicle landscape this year.

Pure electric, DMI, range-extended.

"President Tan has a broad perspective; looking at it this way, comparing Tesla to others seems rather petty."

The celebration by Wei Lai received many likes and reposts from peers on social media. However, although Tesla also reposted it on Twitter, it added the caption "True innovation needs no fireworks."

This kind of veiled sarcasm is truly quite unexpected.

"Hehe, although Mr. Tan occasionally criticizes me, he is indeed a good partner and a worthy opponent."

The man with the big mouth who was whispering to the boatman nodded frequently. At the opening of the celebration, Tan Jincheng paid tribute to his peers and the supply chain, and put Chrysanthemum and Seres at the front, giving his peers a lot of face.

The boatman laughed and said, "Whose fault is that? It's because you keep bringing him up. Besides, there's hardly any left in the second half of the year."

With tech companies expanding into new areas, marketing has become increasingly complex. If they hadn't made significant adjustments to their marketing strategies last year, they would have been unable to keep up with the pace of this year's fierce competition.

"At the beginning of the year, we joined Mr. Wang from BYD in advocating for equal pricing for oil and electricity. I believe everyone still remembers that, right?"

After paying tribute to his competitors, Tan Jincheng got down to business. His first sentence immediately put Boatman on guard, and Big Mouth reacted quickly as well, the two of them glancing at each other simultaneously.

"Hehe, I'm coming for you guys."

Big Mouth is always eager to stir up trouble. The starting price of the X7 has been reduced to below 30 yuan by the price cuts of the Weilai ES and L series, which makes him very upset.

"It's not so much aimed at us, but at the gasoline-powered cars, so he's basically shooting himself in the foot."

The boatman forced a smile. They were all very familiar opponents. As soon as Tan Jincheng finished speaking, he knew what he was going to say next. The Exeed S01 had been on the market for more than a year. It was a model with a very high advantage in the 10 to 15 yuan price range.

Undoubtedly, this is a high-volume model with an expected annual sales volume of 40 to 50 units. And what is the biggest competitive advantage of a high-volume model? It's its affordability.

The Exeed S01 has not seen a price reduction in over a year since its launch. During the window of opportunity presented by the reduction in national subsidies, Tan Jincheng is attempting to leverage this to strengthen the equal pricing of gasoline and electric vehicles in order to capture market share.

Yes, it's a price reduction, but it's not just the Exeed S01.

After the national subsidy is phased out (starting from January 1, 2023), the company will leverage this opportunity to strengthen its "equal price for oil and electricity" declaration and seize market mindshare.

"Weilai's Exeed and Galaxy series, both targeting the mass market, start at 9.98 yuan!"

Hey!
Those present, including the boatman, were relatively calm, as they were able to see Tan Jincheng's statements and actions up close, which helped them adjust their mindset more quickly. However, countless gasoline car dealers watching the live stream were swearing.

"Quickly, contact the staff to revise the quote."

Some dealers attending the celebration were already in a state of excitement, especially those of the Galaxy series, which is a hybrid SUV with L2 assisted driving, priced at 9.98 yuan. Can you believe it?

The dealers of Exeed S01 were even more excited. The price reduction of the Galaxy series was not very large, but the Exeed S01 was reduced by a full 20,000 yuan. While they were excited, they were also under great pressure.

As the main brand of Weilai, it has always relied on self-operation, with only the two sub-brands, Exeed and Aion, opening up to some dealers. Although they cannot enjoy the high-profit margin of the high-end series, the high-volume and best-selling products have made them quite a bit of money.

The reason why Weilai opened up some dealerships for these high-volume models is simply because it values ​​their channel advantages, which allow these models to enter the lower-tier market more quickly and increase market share.

"That's too ruthless. Is he obsessed with the 20,000 yuan?"

He smacked his lips and muttered, "Pure electric vehicles are being discounted by 20,000 yuan, bringing the starting price down to under 100,000 yuan, and they even come with intelligent driver assistance. How the hell are we supposed to compete?"
At this moment, Big Mouth felt a little sympathy for its competitors.

The three live stream rooms were instantly buzzing with excitement.

(End of this chapter)