2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 1073 "A Staggering 15 Billion Yuan in Return"

"Here he comes, here he comes again, he's brought 15 billion!"

On the first day of the eleventh lunar month, Weilai announced a 15th anniversary user reward plan, the most eye-catching of which is to allocate a budget of 15 billion yuan to provide trade-in subsidies for the first batch of owners of models that have been on the market for more than three years.

The moment the news was announced, the entire market exploded.

"Here we go again! I don't believe anyone else when they say it's a free exchange, but I do believe Boss Tan. He has a history of doing this!"

"Damn, this is a truly conscientious company. They really do give back to their original supporters."

December is the month for Xiaomi Auto's launch event. After much anticipation, Xiaomi Auto will hold a launch event on the 28th of this month to officially announce the SU7. The hype has continued from the Guangzhou Auto Show all the way into this month.

However, Wei Lai stole the spotlight with just one move, much like how Boss Tan used a single sentence to grab attention at the Guangzhou Auto Show.

"Free, it's really free."

After the reward program was announced, Weilai's customer service hotline was inundated with calls, and the word most frequently used by customer service staff was "free".

The most eye-catching part of this 15 billion yuan reward plan is the reward scheme for the first batch of car owners, especially the owners of the Yuechi A1. The first 2000 owners of the Yuechi A1 can exchange their cars for a Yuechi A1 or other models of the same price for free, as long as their cars are still there, even if they are already a pile of scrap metal.

Since the original car has already been sold or traded in before, you can still use your status as one of the first car owners to trade in your current car, and you can get a discount of up to half price.

For example, the first 2000 owners of the Yuechi A1 who currently drive a high-end brand such as the Weilai ES6 or L series can enjoy a discount of up to half price when trading in for the latest model.

There are no tricks involved; it's a direct trade-in program. The reason for including the trade-in of an old car is to avoid complications. Unlike two-wheeled electric vehicles, cars can carry significant legal risks if given away directly.

"Yes, it's free. Even if you don't have a trade-in plan, as long as you are one of the first owners of the models in our promotion, we will also give you some discounts, including insurance. You can consult your local store for details."

This time, the main focus is on the owner reward program for the Yuechi A1 series. After all, it has been 15 years since the first model was launched, and there are not many owners still driving this model among the first 2000 users.

They may have already traded in other models of Weilai during previous trade-in programs, or perhaps other brands, and have no need to change cars. However, none of that matters. After all, as users who still support or have supported Weilai in the past, Weilai still holds a grateful attitude.

For this feedback program targeting just 2000 users, Yuechi Auto has allocated a budget of approximately 300 million yuan, which is a genuine way to give back to customers.

Many models have been on the market for more than three years, such as the ES6, which is already ten years old. Among the announced plans, many models can offer free trade-in options, depending on their year of launch, with the highest being similar to the Yuechi A1.

The most eye-catching one is the ES6, the first model from Weilai, which has been on the market for ten years. Although it is expensive, Weilai still includes it in its free trade-in program.

"Fifteen years have passed, and Mr. Tan is still the same generous Mr. Tan."

In the Yuechi APP owner community, a Yuechi A1 owner expressed the following sentiment. He was one of the first owners of the Yuechi A1 and often shares his car-using experience in the Yuechi APP community. Before the Yuechi APP, he would share his car-using experience on social media platforms such as Autohome and Yiche.com.

He is a loyal owner of the Yuechi A1 and is very familiar with its minor problems. He would bring up any issues that arose during the use of the car and give Wei Lai a lot of advice.

He had already replaced his car with a Tank 300, still a gasoline-powered vehicle, and he was still a Yuechi Auto customer. This time, he planned to trade in his existing vehicle for a Tank series hybrid model, specifically a Tank 500, to experience a new energy vehicle.

Over the past 15 years, he has had multiple contacts with Wei Lai. Initially, he even met with Tan Jincheng and offered suggestions to him. Wei Lai also provided him with a lot of convenience during his car use, and the after-sales service was excellent, which is why he has always supported Wei Lai.

Many gasoline car owners like them share the same thoughts. Some Yuechi A1 users even plan to switch to Exeed S01, which is also part of Weilai's reward program.

Without subsidies, how to get gasoline car owners to transition to the new energy vehicle market is a major challenge.

In terms of the car ownership mindset of gasoline car users, those who can accept electric cars have already switched, while those who cannot accept them will never switch. In addition to these two categories, there is another category of people who "don't have the money" to switch. This lack of money is in a broad sense, and it is more because the temptation is not strong enough.

“Car user data is easy to collect; the data is much simpler than it was with two-wheeled vehicles back then.”

Each car has its own "ID card," and the user's purchase record is also saved. Compared with the chaotic two-wheeled vehicle sales system of the past, it is much simpler. When Wei announced the plan, he immediately pushed the detailed trade-in process and discounts to the users.

As more and more users share the discounts they received on internet social media, the news of Weilai's 15 billion yuan reward for users has dominated the trending topics for several days.

"Damn, even the lowest level of discounts can get you a free maintenance service worth 3000 yuan. You don't have to do anything and you get 3000 yuan for free. This 15 billion yuan probably isn't enough, is it?"

"They're really rich and powerful. It makes me want to buy some of Weilai's products."

I'm not afraid of competition among car companies, but I am afraid of infighting among them. Compared to Weilai's attitude towards first-time car owners, and looking at the first-time car owners of other companies who are frequently betrayed, it's truly heartbreaking to see.

"Our first batch of users has always been our most valuable asset, and we have always treated them with the utmost sincerity."

Li Xiang publicly responded to Wei Lai's 15 billion yuan mega-plan on Weibo, and even forwarded a post jokingly saying that Tan Jincheng was once again giving away large sums of money. Including Orange Technology, this is the third time. Every time it's the same routine, but it always works very well.

"That's what you call having one trick up your sleeve and being able to make a living anywhere."

Tan Jincheng also joked about himself on social media, saying that in his view, the essence of all marketing is sincerity, and those who try to deceive users will eventually be backfired.

Offering discounts is the most direct way to show sincerity to users.

Speaking of Weilai's 15 billion yuan plan, it has been met with a lot of criticism, with some believing that it is a disguised price war. In fact, that is indeed the case. But what can anyone do? They are celebrating their 15th anniversary and offering discounts to certain users.
Even from a regulatory perspective, there's nothing to say about this.

Xiaomi, on the other hand, was somewhat frustrated. The official announcement of the plan was made on the first day of the eleventh lunar month, and several days had passed since the incident gained widespread attention. At that time, their technology launch event was only a few days away.

They're putting up huge sums of real money; no amount of trending topics can move people's hearts.

Aside from Xiaomi fans, nobody was talking about their SU7 launch event.

"It's like the saying, 'Why did Heaven create both Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang?'"

Lei Jun sighed that the pressure of Xiaomi's car manufacturing is far greater for him personally than outsiders imagine. The SU7 will definitely sell well, but he must make it a blockbuster. Only a blockbuster can stabilize morale.

The path of simply becoming a new force is no longer viable.

As an important early partner, he knew Tan Jincheng well. This partner, who was 16 years younger than him, never deliberately targeted any particular company, even when he was still in his early years, and had a very broad vision.

Weilai's sales in November showed almost no growth compared to October. Clearly, Tan Jincheng's actions were driven by considerations of the company's sales volume, and he did not intend to target Xiaomi's technology launch event.

However, one move by Wei Lai negated more than half of their costly marketing plan, and even with increased budgets and huge marketing expenditures, they still couldn't achieve a comparable result.

On Weibo, Xiaomi and Weilai are equally popular. After all, this is not Weilai's territory. On major traffic platforms and professional platforms such as Douyin, Autohome, and Yiche, Weilai's traffic is simply incomparable to Xiaomi's.

On Douyin, although he and Tan Jincheng are both shareholders, his importance is self-evident. In terms of creating content, Tan Jincheng, who has become increasingly low-key in recent years, is not as good as him, but in terms of popularity, he is in no way inferior to him. Tan Jincheng, who made a name for himself in his early twenties and is active on the Internet, is a role model for many young people. This popularity cannot be surpassed by him by creating content a few times.

Professional platforms like Autohome and Bitauto have intricate connections with it.

"That's a long-term plan."

How could Lei Jun not see through Tan Jincheng's series of strategic moves? From the internet to automobiles, from professional platform websites to short video platforms, he firmly controls the gateway to public opinion, yet he does so discreetly, making people wary.

Xiaomi could have been part of that strategy, but unfortunately it didn't align with his strategic ambitions. Otherwise, Xiaomi's market value would be much higher now. Both of them are extremely ambitious, and Xiaomi could never have become part of his strategy.

"Mr. Tan, that's quite a generous gesture."

After thinking for a long time, Lei Jun calmed himself down and finally dialed Tan Jincheng's private number.

"Huh? Mr. Lei is talking about the feedback program? I learned that from you."

Xiaomi also did something that caused a sensation on the internet back then: they gave money to the first batch of Xiaomi 1 users. There were no tricks involved; they simply gave them a 1999 yuan coupon. This significantly boosted Xiaomi's image and increased user loyalty noticeably.

"Don't laugh at me, that's all stuff you've already mastered."

The era of Flash Motors giving away electric vehicles to users is too long ago, and the internet wasn't as developed back then as it is now. The heated discussions it generated have long been forgotten over time. If it weren't for this 15 billion yuan mega-plan, it would probably have been forgotten long ago.

"Haha, you're looking for me because of the tech launch event?"

"Yes, we may need some materials from Weilai Auto at that time. We would also like to invite President Tan to attend. I have also invited some friends."

"Mr. He?"

"It's not just him, but also Mr. Li from Wenjie, and Mr. Li from your company."

Lei Jun has a good relationship with all three of them. He has invested in Xiao Peng and Wen Jie and keeps in touch with them privately. He also has a good relationship with Li Xiang, as the two were among the first Tesla owners and have exchanged ideas about cars.

When Xiaomi was developing cars, Lei Jun consulted Li Xiang many times, asking him for advice.

"Okay, the 28th, right? I'll be there on time."

Tan Jincheng did not refuse. The good sales of Xiaomi cars would be of great benefit to him personally. He had no intention of suppressing Xiaomi cars. Although the SU7 and ET5 belong to the same C-class coupe category, they are actually designed to compete with Tesla's Model 3.

Furthermore, the user groups of SU7 and ET5 do not overlap. SU7 is more geared towards Xiaomi fans. In fact, Wei Lai had already conducted research and found that the target user group of SU7 is completely different from other product categories.

Their expectations for the SU7 come entirely from Lei Jun or the Xiaomi brand; without the SU7, they wouldn't even have a plan to buy a car.

There's no need to develop any plans specifically for these brand customers; they can't be won over by force. We'll have to wait and see how their new cars perform after they're launched to find out.

It's bound to have some problems since it's the first time building a car.

"Thank you, Mr. Tan. I will inform Mr. Li later about the materials I need from Wei Lai and discuss them with him."

"Okay, no problem, just don't criticize us too harshly."

"Haha, that's definitely not the case. Mr. Yu and I have different approaches."

How could he dare? Even someone as arrogant as President Yu made concessions to Wei in terms of marketing plans to promote the new X7. He didn't use Wei's previous tricks. The tricks used in the mobile phone industry are fine for other car companies, but if you anger President Tan, he will really give you a hard time.

Lei Jun was busy preparing for what would be an extremely important technology launch event of his life. After communicating with Tan Jincheng, Wei Lai also gave some responses.

Aside from user-initiated actions, Weilai didn't invest much in traffic in the following days. After all, this time it was targeting Weilai's existing user base, and the spontaneous promotion from these users who had benefited was enough.

This reward program also had an unexpected surprise: it brought back a group of users.

In 15 years, tremendous changes have taken place, and it is perfectly normal for a group of users to switch to other brands of vehicles. Weilai's current offer is very sincere, with discounts even greater than the national subsidies back then.

With the ES6 up to half price for trade-in, after deducting the residual value of the car, they only need to pay the price of a Chery Exeed S01 to own a high-end model from Weilai, which is no more than 20 yuan.

No one can resist this temptation, even if he is currently driving a car from another brand.

The problem with Weilai lies in this: as long as the conditions are met, you can trade in any car brand, even if it's a car from a bankrupt company, as long as you meet the requirements. You don't have to use Weilai brand models.

Of course, the premise is that the car must be registered in your own name and the registration time must be more than six months, which will prevent used car dealers from taking advantage of loopholes.

As for the used cars that are returned, Weilai also has channels for handling them. Cars in good condition can be placed in Weilai's car rental companies, while those in average condition can be handled through its used car companies.

As for vehicles that are completely scrapped, those are actually very rare. Chinese people generally have good car-driving habits, and most people cherish their cars, so they can easily bear this small loss.

Should we include this batch of unplanned sales in the total sales figures?

This marketing campaign was not originally planned. It was actually inspired by Tan Jincheng's observation of the many car companies going bankrupt. He spent half a month developing the plan, and the actual delivery will not begin until next year.

The focus this year is mainly on registration. For eligible registered users, the car usage needs are simple: continue driving their cars and receive some subsidies, eliminating many complicated procedures.

"Let's talk about this next year. We can put it in the monthly deliveries next year according to the delivery date. Let's skip it this year and not do that."

Actually, it wouldn't be a big problem to include all these registered users in the December sales figures. However, it's best not to engage in sales fraud, because once you start, you can't stop.

"There are only two kinds of sales fraud: zero times or countless times. Even if our sales decline significantly in the future, we cannot play this game."

Sales fraud is not just about generating simple data. Besides creating a bad corporate culture, it requires considerable resources to carry out and is therefore a huge waste.

Thursday, March 12th.

The weather in Beijing is much colder than in Ningbo in the winter.

"President Tan, President Li, it's been a long time."

He Xiaopeng strode forward towards Tan Jincheng, followed by Li Bing and Lei Jun. With Xiaopeng Motors back on track and having secured investment from Volkswagen, the company had finally recovered, and He Xiaopeng's pressure had lessened considerably.

The newly launched models have taken a simple approach, without making too many changes to the configuration, and have indeed regained market share, which shows that users still prefer simple things.

"It hasn't been long, I just saw it at the Guangzhou Auto Show."

The G6 and their new P7 have both received positive reviews. Xiaopeng's X9 is very popular, even more so than the EM9 from Weilai. This model, which integrates a wealth of technology, can be considered a recognition of Xiaopeng's technology.

To some extent, Xiaopeng's brand image has been improved, which shows that you can't build something new without breaking down the old.

"Haha, by the way, we're also launching a model similar to the Exeed S01 next year. Please be lenient with us, Mr. Tan."

This is public publicity, not a company secret, and He Xiaopeng also joked about it.

"Hehe, that's hard to say. Starway will also be due for a generational change next year."

The Exeed S01, which has been on the market for three years, will be upgraded and replaced next year. Currently, the Exeed S01 has maintained stable sales. The upgrade will not make many changes to the appearance, but will focus more on optimizing the details.

"Sigh, it's really tough to run into you guys in the mass market. Mr. Li and Mr. Lei are so smart."

It's incredibly difficult for emerging players to seize market share from traditional giants. They risk becoming cannon fodder like Nezha (a character from a Chinese folktale). The major crises they face are largely related to their positioning.

"That's an exaggeration, that's an exaggeration. We're not talking about me today, it's Lei Jun's show."

Lei Jun laughed heartily. After communicating with Tan Jincheng by phone, Wei Lai gave them some bandwidth and ample time to promote the technology launch event, for which he was very grateful.

With ample media attention, the SU7's technology launch event has generated increasing buzz, earning it the reputation of being the "Spring Festival Gala" of the automotive industry.

This time, he's going to become an overnight sensation.

"Wherever President Tan goes, that's your home ground."

(End of this chapter)