2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 868 "These 40-plus yuan were well spent!"

On the second weekend of April, the most talked-about topic on various car forums and among car enthusiasts was what exactly happened on April 24th.

Weilai has a super-large experience store in Wangfujing, with a total area of ​​3000 square meters on two floors. It is decorated quite luxuriously and is a brand image store of Weilai.

This store doesn't sell cars; the first floor is a showroom, and the second floor is a place for customers to meet, socialize, and relax.

In terms of luxury alone, this experience store is on par with any luxury brand.

The foot traffic is usually quite good, especially on weekends when the staff are constantly busy. Since there are no sales targets, the experience store doesn't have the same strong sales pitch vibe as traditional 4S stores, so the service experience is much better.

In addition to these large-scale experience stores, Weilai also has many secondary and tertiary experience stores. Some of them are located in shopping malls with their own customer traffic. Although the area is not large, they greatly increase the brand's exposure in shopping malls with huge customer traffic.

Mr. Tan's reply directly targeted the Wangfujing experience store. Although no one knew what would happen, everyone knew that April 24th was the delivery date for the first batch of Weilai ES8 users.

Since this is the delivery time for the first batch of users, it is naturally related to this.

"President Tan is undoubtedly a master of marketing, but we can't learn that kind of thing."

This marketing tactic isn't new; it's simply releasing a message and leaving the audience in suspense, allowing fans and onlookers to guess and generate discussion.

The key point is that the person who leaks the information must have enough influence. In the current automotive industry, no car company boss or executive can compare to Tan Jincheng in terms of influence.

Since founding Flash Technology, Tan Jincheng has consciously managed the company and his personal brand through various marketing events and interactions with fans. After founding Weilai Auto, the frequency and scale of these efforts have increased even further.

Over the decades, Tan Jincheng has accumulated a large number of fans across the internet and has become a top KOL (Key Opinion Leader) on the internet.

The only person on the entire internet who can be compared to him is Lei Jun, who frequently posts on Weibo.

On Bilibili, a platform primarily frequented by young people, Tan Jincheng enjoys immense popularity due to his youth, unique affability, and respect for anime and manga culture demonstrated during his collaboration with miHoYo.

If Lei Jun hadn't shown off his English in India last year, making him a viral sensation in the parody video community, his influence on Bilibili alone wouldn't have been comparable to Tan Jincheng's.

"Even if he posts a selfie on Weibo, it can attract a lot of comments. This kind of influence is something we can only envy."

Tan Jincheng, who has already established his personal brand, can bring great benefits to the company. Anyone can see that Weilai ES8 will not invest a lot of resources in marketing. For a model with a monthly sales expectation of around a thousand units, no car company would invest a lot of resources in promotion.

However, Tan Jincheng could easily promote this car model on his own using his personal brand. For example, he now travels in the Weilai ES8 and is using this tantalizing method to attract attention.

While it's admirable, learning from him is difficult. Tan Jincheng's personal brand is built up over decades through various marketing events. Even if they realize this and start building their brand now, it's already impossible to catch up.

Moreover, Tan Jincheng is young and open to all sorts of new things. He's even better at using internet memes than most netizens.

These are things that even if these old guys wanted to learn, they couldn't.

Netizens joked that Tan Jincheng was using 4G internet, while describing these old guys as living in the telephone era.

mountain city.

Zhu Pei returned to the place once again, looking quite spirited.

"Mr. Mou, we'll need your help with a lot of collaborations in the future. Let me toast you in advance."

After the two plots of land in Yuanyang were transferred to the subsidiary established by Weilai Group in Chongqing, the subsidiary immediately transferred one of the plots to Yangzi Automobile, and Zhu Pei returned to arrange business in the southwest.

To establish a foothold in Chongqing, having a strong partner is the best option. Although Lifan is embroiled in internal strife, they still wield considerable influence in the city.

Besides the Yuanyang plot, it's not impossible for Wei Lai to acquire Lifan's new energy business entirely, but that would require Wei Lai to fight alone in the complex city of Chongqing.

The purpose of acquiring the shares from the China Development Bank Fund and becoming Lifan's second-largest shareholder through a private placement was simply to find a local bigwig to help him handle some matters.

Zhu Pei temporarily came to Shancheng to take charge of the overall situation, and his first task was to find the management of Lifan and build rapport.

"Your company is truly formidable."

As Mou Gang clinked glasses with Zhu Pei, he sighed with relief. Having secured two large sums of money from Wen Jie and Wei Lai, Li Fan breathed a sigh of relief, and its stock price rose rapidly after trading resumed.

In just a few weeks, Lifan's stock price has surged to over 12 yuan, an increase of more than 35%.

The financial pressure has been alleviated, and the stock price has even risen. The most direct feeling is reflected in their management team, who have become much more assertive in handling matters recently.

Having money in your pocket gives you confidence.

However, what impressed Mou Gang was Wei Lai's strong strength. Yangzi Automobile had just completed the acquisition and was already preparing to start preparing the factory to put it into production as soon as possible. It should be noted that Yangzi Automobile also had to pay money to buy a piece of land from its parent company.

"Haha, the parent company wouldn't be so outrageous as to ask us to pay directly. It's fine to owe them money first."

Zhu Pei understood what Mou Gang meant. However, Zhu Pei had indeed been proud of himself over the years. Yangzi Automobile was an outlier. As the first complete car company that Wei Lai took over, Yangzi Automobile was the first to undergo restructuring and also the one with the most drastic and thorough reforms.

Since its restructuring, Yangzi Automobile has focused on pickup trucks and related parts industries, without engaging in any other physical industries. As sales continue to rise, Yangzi Automobile's net profit is also increasing.

With no significant change in operating costs, Yangzi Motors has accumulated more and more cash flow. Compared to car companies like Lifan, which are chaotic and unprofitable, Yangzi Motors may not even be considered second-rate, but it is doing very well.

Over the years, Zhu Pei has been in charge of Yangzi Automobile. Although he has adhered to Tan Jincheng's requirements and maintained 100% focus on the main business, he certainly cannot let the company's cash just lie in the bank earning interest.

Zhu Pei is not good at investing, nor does he dare to invest easily. However, Zhu Pei is also shrewd. He is not good at investing, but his boss and his ByteDance engine are.

Just follow the boss's lead. Apart from stocks related to the company, they buy whatever the boss buys, especially Hong Kong and US stocks, so there's no suspicion of insider trading.

Through these investments, Yangtze Motors has accumulated a very considerable amount of profit and investment returns.

As of 2015, Yangzi Automobile's operating cash flow reached RMB 19.25 billion, while the cash flow from investments reached RMB 12.17 billion, bringing the total cash flow close to RMB 40 billion.

If Orange Technology often prides itself on being a small but beautiful internet company, then the unconventional Yangtze Motors is the real deal – this very unique small car company is doing better than more than 70% of car manufacturers.

In the professional pickup truck industry, Yangzi Motors is in better financial condition than Jiangling Motors, which currently ranks second in sales. If it weren't for Weilai's financial reports, few people would know that such a small car company is so unconventional.

The success of Yangzi Automobile has provided many small car companies with some operational experience, showing them that companies can operate in a different way. Currently, Huanghai Automobile, another subsidiary of Weilai Group, is also following the path of Yangzi Automobile.

However, it will be difficult for other companies to replicate the success of Yangzi Automobile. Yangzi Automobile was able to succeed because it was supported by the strong strength of its parent company and also had a certain amount of luck in terms of investment.

Other companies do not have this kind of resource.

Upon returning to Chongqing, Zhu Pei quickly threw himself into work after communicating with Lifan's management. The Lifan factory that Yangzi Automobile acquired consisted of Lifan's original SUV production line.

Although Lifan's cars were of terrible quality, it doesn't mean their equipment and factory standards were the same. Otherwise, Li Xiang wouldn't have been able to put the Lifan factory into operation so quickly after taking over and moving it to Changzhou.

The same factory buildings and equipment can produce different results in the hands of different people.

Using an SUV production line to produce pickup trucks has some advantages. Zhu Pei, who took over the business, is quite satisfied with the current situation and has transferred a group of management personnel and employees from the Chuzhou factory to take over the entire factory.

Those who needed retraining were retrained, and those who needed to be dismissed were dismissed. This was all the same as when Tan Jincheng took over Yangzi Automobile. However, unlike the original Yangzi Automobile, the original company, Lifan, was a private enterprise. With Lifan's cooperation, Zhu Pei faced much less resistance in the restructuring.

Starting this month, pickup trucks will be piloted in four major provinces: Hebei, Liaoning, Henan, and Yunnan. The market space for pickup trucks will only continue to grow, and the market space for Yangzi Automobile will also continue to grow.

"According to the boss's requirements, we should aim for fourth place and strive for third. As for the top two, we don't need to compete for them."

Yang Zhijie, the technical director of Yangzi Automobile, also rushed over. The renovation of the Lifan factory also requires the cooperation of the technical department. In the years that he has focused on the pickup truck business, Yang Zhijie, who is no longer restricted by his identity, has been sent to the United States and Europe to study, which has truly broadened his horizons.

The pickup truck market may not be as fast-paced as the passenger car market, but it still needs to keep up with the market pace. The Qilin series is currently performing well in the market, but it is not without its challenges.

"However, in my opinion, it's not impossible for us to challenge for second place."

Jiangling, currently ranked second, has a good sales volume in the pickup truck market, but since last year, they have obviously shifted their focus to SUVs, and have made a name for themselves with the Landwind X7, which copied the Range Rover Evoque.

Despite facing criticism and even being sued by Land Rover, the Landwind X7's sales continued to rise in the first quarter, officially exceeding 10,000 units in March and reaching 24,600 units in the entire first quarter.

As long as they withstand the pressure from Land Rover, this is a model with annual sales of 10 units, an absolute blockbuster.

With one model outselling the entire pickup truck market, it's clear that Jiangling can't abandon this model. Even if they're embroiled in lawsuits, they'll continue selling it despite the pressure. While this behavior may seem shameful, who cares about the profits?

Zhu Pei smiled and said, "Take it slow, no rush. Anyway, the boss's task for us is to do well in the pickup truck business and make money." Who in the automotive industry wants to be limited to a fixed industry? However, the company's profits are also beneficial to them. The most direct benefit is that the lives of management and even ordinary employees have been greatly improved.

Previously, they were under the Changfeng Group, where they could make SUVs, but life wasn't very good. Besides, if they managed Yangzi Automobile well, they could also be transferred to the headquarters, and there would be opportunities to make other models.

"However, if you have the chance, you can visit the headquarters more often. You can keep an eye out for the off-road vehicles there."

The Tank series currently only has one model, but there are follow-up models under development. The off-road vehicle project is not the core business of the headquarters, and if possible, Yangzi Motors may have the opportunity to acquire it.

Yang Zhijie quickly understood what Zhu Pei meant: "Haha, that's a good direction."

Pickups, SUVs, and off-road vehicles can generally be considered to be on the same track, and there is nothing incomprehensible about them from a technical point of view. If Yangzi Motors could acquire the off-road vehicle business of its parent company, it would indeed be a supplement to the company.

With two niche markets combined, achieving annual sales of over 10 vehicles would allow Yangzi Motors to maintain its competitiveness while making a profit.

Tan Jincheng was unaware that his subsidiary was eyeing the parent company's business. A week after the revelation, discussions about the April 24 delivery date gradually decreased on other platforms.

However, on the Weilai APP, the popularity of this topic is getting higher and higher as the number of users sharing their experiences continues to increase.

The Wangfujing Experience Store at the event center saw a dramatic increase in customer traffic after the boss's outburst, with many customers and curious onlookers coming to inquire about the activities scheduled for April 24th.

The workload of the store staff has increased significantly since the news broke, which has left them with mixed feelings of joy and worry.

"I'm sorry, all I know is that April 24th is the first delivery date for our ES8, and there will be a delivery event at the experience store, but I really don't know anything else."

These frontline staff genuinely had no idea what special events were planned for their stores; they were simply following instructions to train staff, set up the showroom, and prepare for the handover ceremony.

"I heard the first batch delivered was the Founder Edition?"

They knew this: "Yes, that's right, our first batch of delivered models only included the Founder Edition."

At last year's press conference, Tan Jincheng announced that 5000 Weilai ES8 Founder Edition vehicles would be launched. In addition to the standard and MAX versions, the Founder Edition also includes exclusive car logos, accessories and other benefits.

Because these vehicles were produced ahead of schedule and cannot be customized, they can be delivered first. All 5000 Founder Edition vehicles have already been ordered and will be delivered simultaneously in 19 cities across the country on April 24.

The non-foundational version of the Weilai ES8 will begin delivery in May.

After deducting subsidies, the Founder Edition is priced at over 40 yuan, which is quite high.

What SUVs can you buy for around 40 yuan in 2016?

The Audi Q5, BMW X3, Mercedes-Benz GLK, Toyota Highlander, and imported and high-spec versions of Volkswagen Tiguan, among other mainstream and luxury joint venture models, are all within this price range.

The 5000-unit Founder Edition was more of a gimmick; Tan Jincheng never expected that all 5000 units would be sold out.

In the words of the skeptics, if you have this money, why not go for a BMW, Mercedes-Benz, or Audi?

However, to Tan Jincheng's surprise, the market response was quite good. From the end of the press conference to the end of March, more than 3000 of the 5000 Founder Edition vehicles were ordered in less than five months!

It was these 3000-plus vehicles that gave Tan Jincheng and the entire Weilai team the expectation of monthly sales of 1000 Weilai ES8 vehicles.

With over 3000 vehicles delivered simultaneously across 19 cities, Weilai originally planned to hold a grand delivery ceremony to give Weilai a good start in its foray into the high-end market.

Currently, car delivery in China is still quite haphazard, mainly dominated by 4S stores. Centralized delivery led by OEMs like this is relatively rare, making Weilai's marketing campaign quite novel.

The mainframe manufacturers have all heard about Weilai's centralized delivery event and are paying close attention to its progress. They all want to see how effective this event will be, and if it is successful, they might as well try to do the same.

"Based on the information we've gathered, Mr. Tan should be at the Wangfujing experience store on April 24th, the delivery date. That's about it."

The Wangfujing Experience Store is the most luxurious and largest brand image store in Weilai. It is only natural that Tan Jincheng chose the most luxurious store under the group to participate in the delivery ceremony on the first delivery day of the high-end brand.

"Are you coming to the Wangfujing store on the 24th?"

After the news had been circulating for a while, those who needed to know it already knew, including Lei Jun.

Lei Jun has been relatively free lately. The Xiaomi 5 continues to sell well after its release, and the emergence of Mijia basically indicates that the Xiaomi ecosystem is entering an accelerated phase. Currently, apart from Xiaomi Pay, there are no new products to announce within the company.

Lei Jun, who can't sit still, has officially taken over Xiaomi's supply chain system. He also ordered a Founder Edition of the ES8, which was delivered on April 24th at the Wangfujing store.

"Yes, are you going to the scene in person?"

"Do you have any explanation? Tell me what kind of tricks you're going to pull before I decide whether I should go to the scene in person."

He had also seen the recent online news. Centered around the Weilai APP, although the attention from peripheral platforms declined after a period of time, the continuous output of the Weilai APP still sparked ongoing discussions on other car forums.

Lei Jun, who is also an expert in manipulating internet traffic, understands this very well: sustained traffic is far more valuable than a sudden trending topic that then disappears.

Brand information is available to specific groups of people anytime, anywhere, and this is largely a spontaneous group behavior. This low-cost approach is something Xiaomi excels at.

However, based on his understanding of Tan Jincheng, things were definitely not that simple.

"Hey, why are you asking about this? If you're interested, just come over. It's not far from you anyway."

"Goodness, you still won't tell me. Just as I thought, things aren't that simple."

Lei Jun secretly wondered whether he should go to the scene to see what Tan Jincheng was up to.

Xiaomi, which was founded six years ago, broke through the 100 billion US dollar mark in revenue in 2014 and completed a 11.34 billion US dollar Series F financing round at the end of the year. It has not raised any funds for more than a year.

As the fastest-growing internet company in history and the fastest company to break the $100 billion revenue mark, Xiaomi's growth has been inseparable from the support of ByteDance's advertising platform and Tan Jincheng's resources.

Xiaomi, which is currently planning its IPO, no longer needs to raise funds. The original shareholders, including Tan Jincheng, have basically fulfilled their mission, and now it's time to wait for the harvest.

"Alright, stop guessing. We do have an event on the 24th, but it's for regular users. It's best if you big shots and people with connections don't show up, so we don't end up in an awkward situation."

After replying to Liu Ming's post, Tan Jincheng urgently convened the senior executives of Weilai to develop a special plan for the delivery of the Weilai ES8, which involved the collective mobilization of all senior executives in China, including himself.

Aside from him personally going to Beijing and Zhang Yong staying in Ningbo, the other senior executives went to the nearest relevant city to participate in offline delivery activities.

The activity was also very simple: he and his executives transformed into salespeople and personally participated in the delivery.

"Oh, I see. Then I won't go and join the fun."

Since Tan Jincheng had said so, although he was curious, he wouldn't actually cause trouble. He would just keep an eye on things and see what this kid was up to.

4 month 24 day.

At the Wangfujing Weilai Experience Store, rows of Weilai ES8 Founder Editions, whose main color is named Starry Green, are displayed in the delivery area on the first floor. The store staff are making the final arrangements.

It wasn't open for business yet, but many car owners had already arrived at the Weilai Experience Store, their excitement over receiving their new cars beyond words.

"So many people have come?"

Liu Han, the store manager, was a little surprised, as it was still quite early and their store hadn't opened yet.

After a moment's thought, Liu Han decisively said, "Let's open the door early, invite the guests to sit on the second floor, reassure them, and ask them if they have eaten breakfast. If not, prepare some for them."

She had suspected that the boss was coming to the site, so it wasn't exactly a secret, but she only found out last night that the boss would be personally involved in the delivery.

Liu Han was shocked when she saw the marketing plan.

"Wow, taking photos with every car owner and their relatives on site, opening the car doors for them to get in, then closing the doors and waving goodbye to each car owner as they leave, is this some kind of high-stakes event?"

This service is so thoughtful, even the sales staff at 4S stores aren't this attentive. The CEO of a company worth hundreds of billions personally opened the car door for the owner, showing off his status. Isn't this 40+ yuan a bit too much?
And this kind of event will appear in many experience stores in Weilai, with the boss and all senior executives of the company all mobilized. Liu Han can already imagine how sensational this marketing event will be!
"It's really exciting."

One by one, the anxious car owners who had rushed over were guided to the second floor. Liu Han could already imagine the scene when they realized that it was Boss Wei Lai who opened the door for them.

(End of this chapter)