2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 846 NIO DAY New Car Launch

"You're the main speaker today, so how's it going? Are you prepared?"

Kimberly was visiting China for the first time and was not yet familiar with the country. In addition, he did not speak Chinese, so simultaneous interpretation was needed, which was a bit troublesome. Therefore, the main speaker this time was handed over to Li Xiang.

"Hey, to be honest, I'm still a little nervous. It's my first time experiencing such a large-scale press conference."

Li Xiang has good speaking skills and can calmly deal with the traps in media questions, demonstrating strong logical thinking ability.

"It's not a big problem, just control your emotions. You're a professional."

As the former CEO of the automotive website with the highest market share in the country, Li Xiang, who has been in the automotive industry for so many years, is undoubtedly a professional. The only thing he needs to do is control his emotions.

In his previous life, Tan Jincheng had seen his press conference.

In some ways, this guy has some of Yu Dazui's traits.

"Are you nervous, boss? On the other hand, today's occasion is really important for our company."

Today's focus is on introducing Lotus to domestic consumers, but that doesn't mean we won't introduce NIO. Therefore, the theme of this launch event is "NIO DAY".

From its release to its official launch, the Weilai ES6 has been on the market for four years now, not counting the more than 200 vehicles sold in 2011.

Over the past four years, the Weilai ES6 has accumulated 51172 owners. While this is less than the annual sales of the Maodou S, the average monthly sales of nearly 1000 units is still a very good result.

The sales increase is mainly due to this year's surge. This year, the ES6 has been able to maintain an average monthly sales volume of 1500 units, which is comparable to the Aion series' average monthly sales volume of nearly 3000 units.

It's worth noting that the Aion series actually has two models, and the price is much lower.

However, the fact that the Weilai series has not launched any new models in four years has also raised questions in the market about Weilai's ability to innovate.

"It's definitely not feasible to just take advantage of one car. Hopefully, the ES8 will bring some surprises to the market this time, otherwise the money will be wasted."

For this press conference, Weilai made meticulous preparations. The venue was Tianhe Stadium, and 10,000 Weilai car owners, more than 300 media outlets, 9 chartered planes, and 8 city branch venues were invited to witness the event live.

In addition, drone technology was used for the first time at a car launch event. Although it was DJI's new Osmo series released in October of this year, it was an internal version. This version contains new technologies that DJI will release next year, which are far superior to the versions currently on sale.

"Hey, this wasn't something I asked for, they provided it to us themselves, saying it was to help with promotion."

Inside the venue, Zhang Xupeng was playing with a DJI drone. This thing is still a novelty and quite expensive. Zhang Xupeng hadn't really played with it much before, and said he wanted to take one back to play with.

In addition to providing unreleased new technology drones, the event also featured support from more than a dozen DJI technicians, all without costing a penny.

“Great, your 100 million yuan investment has paid off. This press conference alone is worth the 100 million yuan.”

Men have a natural affinity for mechanical and electronic products, and after playing with it for a while, Zhang Xupeng fell in love with it.

"It's definitely worth it, haha. You can take it with you, but let's make it clear first that you can't lend it to anyone else. After all, the technology inside won't be released until next year, and it might be a bit troublesome if you encounter a professional."

The main technologies include the second-generation intelligent following technology to be released next March, the obstacle perception system, and the core technologies such as integrated DJI high-definition image transmission and environmental perception to be released in September.

The relationship with DJI dates back a long time. In addition to the 100 million yuan support that was given to DJI when it was in trouble, Wei Lai has also had many collaborations with DJI and there has been a lot of technical exchanges between the two sides.

In its early days, DJI was ignored, but now they have plenty of money.

Since 2012, DJI has established its core advantage in the consumer drone market, capturing almost 90% of the market share.

DJI's Series A funding, which began in 2013, was led by Sequoia Capital, founded by Shen Nanpeng. This year, DJI launched its Series B and C funding rounds. In addition, DJI established a strategic partnership with Hasselblad this year, becoming a minority shareholder and joining its board of directors.

"If Mr. Zhang wants one, we can provide a currently available model, which will definitely have better optimizations than the market version."

When the DJI representative at the scene saw that Zhang Xupeng was interested, but was also afraid of causing trouble, he quickly expressed his support.

Tan is one of DJI's top investors. When Sequoia Capital led the Series A funding round, his company, ByteDance, also invested a little. It's fair to say that he is his boss.

Zhang Xupeng thought for a moment and then shook his head, saying, "Then forget it. It wouldn't be good if someone took it without me noticing. I'll just buy a couple more to play with when you release them next year."

My good brother is being kind, but we still have to be considerate and not cause him any trouble.

Although it's not a big deal.

"That's fine then. Anyway, you don't usually have much time to play. If you're interested, you can talk to the DJI technicians on site. I'm going to get busy now."

Shen Nanpeng is now DJI's second-largest shareholder. Tan Jincheng also benefited from the Series A funding round he led. This is the advantage of having a partner.

DJI seems to have never gone public, but not all companies need to go public. In 2015, DJI's revenue was estimated to be around 60 billion yuan, and it already had the potential to become a unicorn.

Furthermore, for a company with such overwhelming technological superiority, it's better not to go public than to go public.

"Go do your thing, don't worry about me."

In addition to the 10,000 invited audience members and media, there were also many celebrity guests present today, and several star guests were invited to perform.

Wei Lai and several of Shan Chi's spokespeople participated.

The press conference was divided into two parts: the first part was Lotus Night, and the second part was NIO DAY, lasting three hours in total. The first part was narrated by Li Xiang, and the second part was narrated by Tan Jincheng.

What does it feel like to give birth?

Backstage, Liu Yifei curiously observed Gu Qingqing's figure. They were the same age, but Liu Yifei was still single, while Gu Qingqing was already a mother of two.

"That's a question. You'll know once you have one yourself. On another note, don't you feel any pressure? Our spokespeople can all sing."

Tan Jincheng had just moved to the backstage rest area when he overheard their conversation.

Liu Yifei rolled her eyes at Tan Jincheng: "I've also released an album, okay? Don't put it so harshly."

"hehe."

The chuckle drew a few soft laughs from the rest area, and Brother Hu, who had a rather eccentric personality and had previously worked with Liu Yifei, burst out laughing.

Brother Hu is the spokesperson for the Weilai brand. He became a sensation in 2015 and is now the center of attention among the performing guests, even surpassing Zhou Pangzi.

"What are you chuckling about? I really can sing."

Tan Jincheng's harsh words made Liu Yifei somewhat defensive. On the other hand, the spokespeople that Tan Jincheng chose were mostly singers or singers by profession. Although Brother Hu became famous as an actor, he is also a good singer and has many popular songs.

Liu Yifei? I guess you could call her that, she did release an album.

"Okay, okay, you can do it, you can do it."

Tan Jincheng went into the lounge to see Gu Qingqing and also to greet these big stars.

In this age of capitalism, celebrities have become incredibly arrogant. However, their brand ambassadors are alright; even the busiest one, Zhou Hongyi, is always available whenever needed, thanks to advance arrangements.

"Besides their talent, the professionalism of the celebrities is also one of the reasons."

There are plenty of celebrities who act like divas. Take Hu Ge as an example. He's incredibly popular this year. If it were a typical young idol or a veteran celebrity with mediocre professionalism, they would most likely make various excuses to decline and ask for a higher price if asked to participate in an event.

Don't talk to them about contracts; there are plenty of people who don't abide by them.

After giving Lao Hu a few instructions, Tan Jincheng left the gymnasium.

"Hey kid, aren't you laughing too loudly? Don't I have any dignity?"

After Tan Jincheng led Gu Qingqing out of the lounge, Liu Yifei complained to Brother Hu.

"No, no, I meant when I told President Xiao Tan to have a child."

Everyone here is shrewd; who would dare to laugh at Liu Yifei? Today, the event organizer's boss personally came to the backstage lounge to visit her and chatted privately with her. The boss was also able to casually tease her, clearly indicating that they have a very good relationship.

At 7 p.m., the lights changed, and the entire Tianhe Stadium was illuminated by lights with a blue background.

The large screen at the event occasionally flashed images of the guests in the front row. Since it was an auto show, many car company leaders were present, including BYD's "Boatman Brother," Geely's Mr. Li, Chery's Mr. Yin, and Great Wall's Mr. Wei.

The heads of the four major domestic brands all attended, giving Tan Jincheng a lot of face.

"Is the new car still marketed as a luxury vehicle? Is it targeting the high-end market?"

With November more than halfway through, 2015 sales figures are basically set. The growth rate of the sedan segment is almost certain to decline, but at the same time, the SUV segment maintains a growth rate of over 50%, continuously eroding the market share of sedans.

The biggest beneficiaries are Great Wall Motors and Weilai, two domestic brands that focus on the SUV market.

Weilai, which achieved its sales target two months ahead of schedule, is expected to sell around 60 vehicles this year, which is enough to rank it among the top 13. The only pure domestic brand that can surpass it is Great Wall Motors, which also benefits from the SUV market.

BYD and Chery's sales this year should be around 45 units, while Geely's is around 55 units. BYD's 45 units is a good result and a recovery, while Chery, which is constantly embroiled in internal strife, is having a much worse time.

Their sales have declined for several consecutive years, and the leader of their new energy vehicle division has left to found Hozon Auto, also known as Nezha.

Zhang Yong, the founder of Nezha, was quite famous in his previous life, but he was not actually the founder. Tan Jincheng realized that if the founders of these new forces did not manage them themselves, they would generally not do very well.

Xiao Peng's situation only improved after He Xiaopeng stepped into the limelight. The one who fared the best was Li Xiang, who managed the entire company himself from the very beginning and devoted all his energy to it.

Tan Jincheng nodded: "That's about right. We won't make cheap cars for the Weilai brand."

The car company bosses who came today weren't here to see Lotus; they were all here to see the Wynn ES8. Wynn has always been good at keeping things under wraps, and all they could find out was the filing information on the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's website.

The test vehicle's license plate and other information revealed by the roadside show that the vehicle is quite well-covered, offering little reference beyond confirming that it is a mid-to-large SUV.

"However, our main focus is still on intelligence." Li Xiang on stage had already begun his presentation. Also on stage was Lotus's current CEO, Kimberly. Kimberly introduced Lotus's history, while Li Xiang explained Lotus's future development.

"That's well said. So you're planning to have Li Xiang succeed as CEO of Lotus?"

Li, the owner of Geely, who, like Wei Lai, followed the merger and acquisition route, was somewhat surprised by Li Xiang's performance. Tan Jincheng's way of using people was something that traditional car people like them couldn't understand.

In terms of education, Li Xiang had the same high school diploma as him and knew nothing about technology.

In terms of background, this person works in the internet industry. Although automotive media professionals are also considered automotive industry practitioners, it is somewhat surprising that an entrepreneur in the internet automotive media field would become the CEO of the Lotus brand.

Tan Jincheng has many such unexpected moves. Zhang Yong used to work in the commercial vehicle industry, and he dared to use him boldly in the position of group CEO.

Another example is Hu Zhengnan, who was already somewhat famous when he joined the Weilai Research Institute, but it was quite unexpected that he was immediately promoted to the position of vice president.

"Yes, Kimberly will have other plans later. The Lotus brand is too old, so old that everyone has almost forgotten about it. I want to use Li Xiang's Internet thinking to get consumers to accept it again."

Tan Jincheng understood what Boss Li meant. Boss Li was actually interested in Proton and Lotus at this time, but by the time he was ready to make a move, Wei Lai was almost finished with the negotiations.

He wouldn't do something like Lao Wang, where they go through price gouging with each other overseas; he should just find other targets.

"That's a novel approach. We should learn from Mr. Tan's methods of personnel management."

"Not at all, but the media dissemination model has changed now, and using some internet thinking appropriately can indeed have unexpected results."

As a luxury brand, Lotus has no shortage of heritage or product marketing pain points. Its entry-level price of around 130 million yuan in China is not that expensive. As long as it finds the right marketing approach, it may well sell very well.

The buzz generated by these two initial marketing campaigns this year is a good example of this.

“That makes sense. It seems I need to communicate more with President Tan in the future. President Tan, don’t just focus on Lao Wang. Our technology is just as good. If there’s a chance, we can visit each other.”

"Of course I would love to, but I was just afraid you'd be too busy to bother you."

"Old Wang is very busy too, how dare you bother him?"

"Haha, that's because I'm thick-skinned."

Through Horizon Robotics' Series A funding, Tan Jincheng has established connections with major automakers. In terms of gasoline vehicles, although the Yuechi series from Weilai sells very well, they do not feel that it poses much of a threat to them.

Even for Great Wall Motors, the market is large enough.

However, given Weilai's current advantage in new energy vehicles, with a market share exceeding 35%, if it continues to maintain this level, those old guys will really be suffocating under the pressure.

The ES6 has been on the market for over four years, and Weilai has not launched a new model yet. However, thanks to the OTA technology on the ES6, they can feel the pressure.

The boatman shook his head and smiled wryly: "Don't be fooled by this kid. Don't be fooled by his respectful attitude. He might just give us a piece of his mind later."

"Our only hope is that he will price the new car higher; that would give us a glimmer of hope."

"And then there's the listing date."

"Please don't flatter me, everyone. The ES8 will definitely be more expensive than the ES6, and it's not going to be a high-volume seller. As for the launch date, it's expected to be in the second half of next year."

The project is progressing smoothly.

After Li Xiang introduced Lotus's domestic development plan, a race car driver showed off his skills in the center of the booth, and celebrity guests warmed up the atmosphere, making the scene very lively.

"Wow, they even got Jay Chou to come! This was definitely worth the trip."

"Hey, isn't this Liu Yifei? She can sing too."

"Wei Lai is really tight-lipped. He didn't mention it at all during the previous promotion. It must have cost a lot of money to hire these celebrities."

NIO DAY is being streamed live across the entire internet. In addition to the more than 10,000 people at the event, Orange Live users can watch the live content in real time this Friday night.

The race car driver's skillful maneuvers drew cheers from the audience both at the venue and in front of their computers, but the viewership was far less than that generated by celebrities.

As soon as Zhou Pangzi appeared, the number of viewers in the live stream quickly increased.

"Everyone, it's time for me to make my appearance. Sorry for the delay."

"Go do your thing, we don't need your hospitality."

The boatman knew Tan Jincheng quite well. When Tan Jincheng made his entrance in the Weilai ES8 using autonomous driving technology and the footage was simultaneously and meticulously transmitted to the large screen on site by a drone, the audience cheered.

"Look, here comes Big Brother. I've figured it out. Ever since Lotus, this guy has been going for the show-off route today."

Laymen watch the spectacle, experts see the details. Autonomous driving technology is still immature, but judging from Tan Jincheng's entrance alone, Wei Lai has already grasped the essence of this technology.

"Hello everyone, I'm Tan Jincheng. What I just demonstrated is Weilai's latest self-driving technology. Isn't it cool?"

"Perhaps one day in the future, we will be able to free our hands, and we may not even need to take a driver's license test. With self-driving technology, using a car will be as convenient as using a mobile phone."

"Of course, this is just a wishful thinking. Current autonomous driving technology has not yet reached that level. Everyone should still pay attention to safety while driving. Autonomous driving is just an auxiliary tool."

"There are countless roads, but safety is the most important."

Just as Boatman Brother thought, the core idea behind the first NIO DAY was to show off skills, comprehensively demonstrate Weilai's technological accumulation, and respond to the outside world's doubts about Weilai's brand not launching a new model in more than four years.

What would it mean to put 2018 technology into the context of the end of 2015?
To put it simply, using a graphics card from three years in the future to play current games would result in an indescribable experience.

In three years, technically speaking, we've taken a half-step ahead and are fully in line with market demands.

The ES8 was considered a top-of-the-line luxury model in 2015.

Like the Land Rover Range Rover and Audi A8, it features an all-aluminum body, weighs 2.5 tons, has three rows of seven seats with eight different seating layouts, and boasts the world's first Queen's Passenger Seat and a Parent-Child Mode.

With a drag coefficient of 0.29, it features the latest generation of active air suspension.

The battery pack uses Xuanwu battery technology, with a comprehensive range of 355KM. It features a dual-motor four-wheel drive configuration and accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.4 seconds.

"This kid is just like what they say online. He had no experience building cars for the first time, so he used materials like crazy."

With a wry smile, the boatman turned to look at Mr. Li beside him. Among domestic brands, they were the only ones who had gone all in on the new energy vehicle market. Compared to Geely, Chery, and Great Wall, BYD felt the pressure from the ES8 even more.

Mr. Li nodded in strong agreement: "It's really amazing. Everything is top-of-the-line. If the price could be kept below 50, this car might not sell badly."

The world's first autonomous driving chip, NIO PILOT intelligent driver assistance, 360-degree all-around perception system, high-performance intelligent network, voice robot, and intelligent FOTA.

The interior is also very luxurious.

The most crucial point is that FOTA can be continuously upgraded like a mobile phone system. Without FOTA, it cannot be called a smart car at all.

"This is definitely a smart car. I'd also like to know how much Weilai will price it."

What impressed Mr. Wei of Great Wall Motors the most was the way they piled on materials. This was true for the ES8, and even for the Yuechi A1, which is more on the lower end. The materials used were far better than those of competing models in the same class.

Damn, how does he manage to make a profit even with such a high amount of material?
"Now it all comes down to pricing. If the price isn't high, the biggest headache won't be for you, but for Tesla."

"Oh, right, and those new forces that were established this year, Wei Lai is doing this to leave them no way to survive."

At this moment, whether it's the bigwigs and owners of the Weilai ES8 at the scene or the car enthusiasts watching the live stream, everyone is very concerned about the pricing of the Weilai ES8. Compared with the previous ES6, this model, which is defined as the ES8 Founder Edition, does not have a hybrid version, only a pure electric version.

This left Boatman and others somewhat confused, wondering why ES8 didn't develop a hybrid version.

"Hehe, the boss is keeping something in reserve."

Li Xiang chuckled. The ES8 is a pure electric vehicle, and Weilai also has another range-extended model under development. It's just unknown whether the range-extended model will be as popular as the boss expects after its launch.

"I won't waste any more time on small talk. I'm sure what everyone's most concerned about is the price, right?"

After explaining everything in detail for nearly an hour, Tan Jincheng took the water handed to him by the staff on site, moistened his mouth, and smiled.

Damn, this job is really tough. A press conference that lasts for hours requires you to keep talking.

"Okay, please look at the big screen!"

The Weilai ES8 Founder Edition is priced at 54.80 RMB! The six-seater base version is priced at 44.50 RMB! The seven-seater base version is priced at 49.80 RMB!
The overall suggested retail price ranges from RMB 44.50 to RMB 54.80, meaning that the version released to the market will not exceed the price of the Founder Edition.

"grass!"

Upon hearing the price, the boatman couldn't help but mutter a curse under his breath.

According to the latest version of the subsidy policy, with the national subsidy plus local subsidies, pure electric passenger vehicles with a range of more than 250 kilometers can receive a maximum subsidy of 11 yuan.

With discounts from some car manufacturers, the Weilai ES8 can be purchased for around 40 yuan!
"He's a ruthless man."

Mr. Li couldn't help but feel sorry for the boatman. BYD's gasoline car business was stagnant, while the Dynasty series, which was in the new energy vehicle track, was continuously releasing new cars in order to counter the impact brought by Ying Wei.

A price tag of 30 or 40 yuan is not low, but is it expensive for the target consumer group of the Weilai brand?
It’s really not expensive!
According to the user profile released by Weilai ES6, Weilai Auto's user group is mainly young high-income groups, of which 73.3% of users are between 28 and 30 years old, 79.3% have a bachelor's degree or above, and the average annual family income is 46.2 yuan.

In addition, the Weilai ES6 has a good reputation among the post-90s generation, who currently seem to have little purchasing power, and these people are the main consumers in the future!

"If the Yuechi A1 sells for 300,000 to 400,000, then Mr. Wei will be laughing in his dreams. But if the Weilai ES8 sells for 300,000 to 400,000, then Mr. Wang will be unable to sleep."

Like all products, the launch of the ES8 also means the start of a new round of promotional activities for the ES6, which is the real killer.

(End of this chapter)