2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 654 Just do it!
“Good, let’s proceed with this version. Be sure to keep it confidential during filming; however, you can also secretly leak some material out, just be careful to keep the content within acceptable limits.”

At the meeting three days ago, everyone pooled their wisdom and efforts, and instructions were issued in an orderly manner, and the entire Weilai Automobile Company began to move.

Over the course of three days, the marketing department suffered the most. They worked day and night, revising the advertising and marketing plan several times, and finally came up with a plan that satisfied the boss on the afternoon of the last day.

"Alright, let's proceed with this plan. Let me know when you're filming, and I'll go to the site to check it out."

Yang Ming breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Okay, I'll go arrange it right away."

To be honest, he was almost forty years old and had previously served as the deputy director of the marketing department of Great Wall Motors. However, he felt quite pressured when facing this young boss for the first time in a formal job.

A marketing expert truly lives up to their reputation; their advice is unique, and their ideas are incredibly imaginative.

He was convinced; he was truly convinced.

Staring at Yang Ming's retreating figure, Tan Jincheng sighed. Yang Ming was poached from Great Wall Motors through a headhunter. As one of the management personnel in Great Wall Motors' marketing department, he was already among the top people in the domestic automotive industry.

However, the solution we came up with wasn't unusable, nor was it bad.

But it always feels like something's missing.

This may be a limitation of the times; media and marketing professionals who have not experienced the impact of the internet still have very obvious limitations in their thinking.

"I still can't let go."

Boss Tan sighed. It seemed he would have to recruit from college students. Those college students, having been exposed to the internet, would have richer imaginations.

You can't do everything yourself, or you'll be exhausted.

"Boss, when is the new car launch event scheduled, and in which city?"

Not long after Yang Ming left, Zhang Yong came in to inquire about the location and time of the new car launch event.

Zhang Yong officially joined the company last April. In nearly a year and a half, from pickup trucks to commercial vehicles, and then to independent brands, from building new channels to improving production lines, his footprints have covered major cities across the country.

Due to long business trips and an irregular lifestyle, Zhang Yong lost weight and became much darker-skinned, but he looked much more energetic.

As the person directly in charge of Weilai Auto, within a year and a half of joining the company, I developed a brand-new model from scratch, and such a stunning SUV at that.

Even if the initial design draft had little to do with him, it was still a very impressive aspect of his resume.

If sales are decent after the product launch, Zhang Yong will have successfully transitioned from the commercial vehicle sector to the passenger vehicle sector. Given the A1's impressive performance, if it achieves a sales miracle after its launch, his status in the industry will directly rise to that of a top-tier professional manager in China.

Tan Jincheng didn't pay much attention to Zhang Yong's slightly excited eyes. In fact, since September, all the employees of Weilai Auto had been in high spirits.

A new car is launching! Who wouldn't be excited?

I flipped through the calendar and looked at my schedule: "October 18th, I'll set the location in Shanghai."

"The hotel, or our 4S store?" Zhang Yong continued to ask.

Tan Jincheng smiled and said, "Neither. Let's put it at the Shanghai International Circuit. You can make a reservation now."

I remember that Geely's Lynk & Co. held a launch event for one of its models at the Ningbo International Circuit, located in the Beicang District. However, the circuit didn't exist then; construction on the international circuit began in 2015.

New car launches have been held at the Yageer Gymnasium and the Beicang Sports and Arts Center, but those were after they had already achieved success. For example, Geely or Weilai can only go to big cities when their brand influence has not yet taken root in people's hearts.

Five-star hotels or their own 4S stores in Shanghai are lacking in something; they don't have enough influence.

Holding a new car launch event on the track where an F1 race is held maximizes the promotional effect.

"As for the theme, let's customize it to 'New Era, New Possibilities,' and let the marketing department work hard with our partners to develop the plan."

"Training an army for a thousand days is for using it for one day"; the marketing department employees have been working overtime until they're numb.

The date was set for October 18th, which was a suitable day. After a month and a half of pre-launch hype and promotion, the Yuechi A1 had established its market awareness.

Holding a new car launch event at this time would allow you to capitalize on the initial wave of publicity, and the official debut at the Guangzhou Auto Show would take about a month and a half.

In a month and a half, the production plan can be adjusted based on the number of pre-orders for the new car.

Thinking of this, Tan Jincheng asked Zhang Yong, "What is the current production capacity of the Meishan plant?" The 5-vehicle capacity of the Xiangcheng industrial base is used to produce Pajero vehicles. This will not and cannot be changed. Given the unpredictable sales of new cars, Pajero contract manufacturing, Yangzi pickup trucks, and Huanghai buses are currently Weilai's most stable source of income.

The Meishan Island plant is designed to produce 25 vehicles, but that will take several years to complete. Currently, only a portion of the plant is in normal production.

"The production capacity is sufficient. Currently, our Meishan plant can fully meet the needs of a single model. The boss doesn't need to worry about that. The Meishan plant has a production capacity of 7000 SUVs per month."

With three quarters of 2009 gone, market sales figures can be largely predicted. Currently, the best-selling SUV is still the Honda CR-V, which was the first to enter the Chinese market, followed by the Toyota RAV4.

The annual sales of the CRV should be able to exceed 10 units, while the others are unlikely to be successful. According to Zhang Yong's plan, the SUV model, which only accounts for 6.4% of the entire passenger vehicle market share, can be produced at a capacity of 7000 units per month.

Tan Jincheng tapped the table as he pondered: a monthly production capacity of 7000 vehicles would amount to 8.4 vehicles a year, which was more than enough based on the trend in 2009.

But there are less than three months left in 2009.

"That's not enough. We need to find a way to increase production capacity to more than 1 vehicles per month. The whole company is confident in this car. We don't need to be stingy. If we're going to do it, we should do it big."

The current standard for judging whether a car company is a mainstream car company is to sell 10,000 vehicles per month. Only those with monthly sales exceeding 10,000 can be considered mainstream car companies; otherwise, they are just small fry and could go bankrupt at any time.

With the booming car market this year, more and more car companies are achieving monthly sales of over 10,000 units, and the standard has been raised accordingly. Currently, monthly sales of 30,000 units are considered to be those of a mainstream car company.

The Weilai is a new model. Including the Yangzi pickup truck and the bus, the three types alone are not enough to achieve monthly sales of over 30,000, but monthly sales of over 10,000 are still something we can strive for.

If you're going to do it, do it like a mainstream automaker.

Zhang Yong was a little stunned: "Uh, more than 10,000 vehicles? Is that necessary? The best-selling CRV only sells around 10,000 vehicles a month."

"How many cars we can sell is one thing, but we have to be prepared to sell more than 10,000 cars in a single month. It would be ridiculous if we ran out of cars to sell. Our goal is to take down the CRV."

The Yuechi A1 was designed with the idea of ​​creating a legendary car. In 2009, urban SUVs were still a very scarce segment, and there were only 8 models on the market that could truly be called urban SUVs.

Among them, there are only two domestically produced models. The joint venture brands are not only expensive, with prices exceeding 20 yuan, but also have waiting periods of three to four months, and you have to pay extra to get them.

In his previous life, Tan Jincheng remembered that a business partner paid an extra 300,000 or more to buy a Hyundai ix35. If you looked at that car a few years later, it would be considered extremely low-end, but now it was really popular.

Damn it, joint venture brands have really made a fortune in recent years. GM went bankrupt and restructured in its home country, but it still sells very well in China.

“Unlike other car companies, we only have one car model, so we have to do it well. In 2009, you thought annual sales of 10 were a threshold, but what about 2010? You've seen the car market this year, and the subsidy policy will continue next year.”

Then Tan Jincheng said with a wry smile, "I regret that I did it too late. If I had known, I would not have bothered with power batteries and would have just focused on cars. Now our cars are just in time for the sales boom in the second half of the year."

"We need to be more forward-thinking. Although we can use the scarcity marketing strategy, now is the time to make money. Look at the car market now, there's no need for price reductions or promotions. Playing scarcity marketing when we're making money is just courting death."

"We'd rather have more inventory than run out of cars to sell. Don't worry about costs; I have the funds to support it. Let me put it this way: I personally have over 50 billion yuan at my disposal without needing to take out loans."

When it comes to car manufacturing, Mr. Tan is certainly not short of money right now. The cash he has earned from Hong Kong Investment Company and ByteDance's investment in the past year is enough to support the expansion of Weilai Automobile's production capacity.

In 2010, it was essential that the annual production capacity of the Yuechi A1 reach more than 12 vehicles.

By comparing his company to the Honda CR-V and revealing his personal wealth, Zhang Yong truly felt his boss's ambition, and a sense of pride welled up within him as well.

Yeah, if the boss isn't afraid, what's there to be afraid of? So what if it's a joint venture brand? Just do it!
He nodded firmly: "Okay, I will definitely complete the boss's task. I also believe that our Yuechi will sell very well!"

"Alright, go prepare. Contact the media and release some juicy stories every now and then. Also, find some colleagues to give us some hype."

Tan Jincheng smiled. These days, it seems that the "competitors are idiots" approach like Lei Jun is no longer popular. Instead, mutual praise is more common. It seems that each era has its own style of doing things.

Zhang Yong smiled. This was indeed something he had to do. While he might not have the same connections in the media as his boss, he did have better connections in the automotive industry.

He knew far more executives, entrepreneurs, experts, and professors than Tan Jincheng did.

However, Boss Tan isn't without other tricks. He knows Boss Wang, who is almost certain to become the richest man this year, and he also has a good relationship with Changze Yu. Neither of these companies currently has a car model that directly competes with Weilai.

"It's a pity this thing can't be used as a taxi, otherwise we could just bring a whole bunch of taxis."

After Zhang Yong left, Tan Jincheng sat in his office, lost in thought.

Huh?
It seems a breakthrough has been found in new energy vehicles.

(End of this chapter)