2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 996 A Close-Up Blow from the Richest Man

P.S.: It's almost the end of the month, has everyone used their monthly passes yet?

The world is truly a makeshift place; no matter how well you design a publicity plan, it can't compare to the excitement brought by a sudden event.

Unfortunately, Boss Tan ran into this, which made him so angry that he swore.

"Holy crap, I spent so much money, and you guys stole all the attention. Did you guys arrange this person yourselves?"

April 19th marked the first day of the Shanghai International Auto Show and also the first day of official delivery for the Exeed S01 and Zhidou Rainbow. After two months of pre-sales, the pre-sale results for both models are already impressive.

In less than three days, the number of pre-orders exceeded 10,000, and the number of pre-orders for the full month exceeded 30,000. In two months, the number of pre-orders reached nearly 60,000, which is more than the 13,000 pre-orders for the 2021 Weilai L (facelift) in a single month.

The updated L1 model was released in the middle to late part of last month. Range-extended electric vehicles are criticized every day, but they sell really well. The L1, which is selling better and better, is also a very stable profit point for Weile.

As of now, in terms of pre-sale performance of new energy vehicles, only the Maodou 3 and Maodou Y have better pre-sale performance than the Exeed S01 in China, while the BYD Song also has good pre-sale performance, ranking after the Exeed S01.

BYD's plug-in hybrid advantage is, at present, similar to the Wuling Hongguang MINI EV's advantage in the A00-class sedan market.

In addition, the pre-sale performance of Zhidou Rainbow was actually quite good. In the A00 class market, where only Wuling and other manufacturers were available, Zhidou Rainbow still received more than 10,000 orders during the two-month pre-sale period.

Tan Jincheng didn't think this result was particularly ideal. The profit margin of this product was too low. If monthly sales didn't reach more than 10,000 units, it would definitely lose money. But Bao Wenguang didn't think so.

Lao Bao seemed to see a glimmer of hope for Zhidou's revival. With the reduction in subsidies, Zhidou had never achieved monthly sales of 5000+ units, which is Zhidou's best performance to date.

The exhibition area for the complete vehicle series of Weilai Auto is located in Hall 7.1. This exhibition area brings together Weilai, Jike, BBA, Porsche, Tesla and Chrysanthemum.

It's easy to see from the configurations of these brands that this is an exhibition area targeting the high-end market. Weilai, with its deep pockets, has booked the largest area in the exhibition hall, showcasing all of its models in this area.

The entire Weilai exhibition area was divided into four sections: one for Weilai Auto, one for Yuechi Auto, one for the newly launched Lotus, and another for the two cars that are the focus of this year's promotion, Exeed S01 and Zhidou Rainbow, which each occupied their own area.

"Mr. Tan, can't you stop making these sarcastic remarks at a time like this? What brand would do something so stupid?"

The unexpected still happened.

A female Tesla owner somehow managed to break through the security at the scene. Without any warning, she climbed onto the roof of the Tesla, wearing a T-shirt with the words "Brake Failure" printed on it, and started shouting at the top of her lungs.

Faced with this breakthrough, Zhu Lin, Vice President of Tesla's ZG region, who was present at the scene, looked ashen-faced. Today was a media open day, and this car owner's behavior was destined to become a trending topic today.

This was a serious public relations incident, and Tan Jincheng's sarcasm beside him sounded particularly grating.

"I'm telling the truth, Mr. Zhu. Can't you give me some compensation? We've spent so much money promoting the new car, and it's supposed to be delivered today. And this is what you're doing to me."

Tan Jincheng ignored Zhu Lin's ashen face and continued his taunts. Robin Danholm, who had just joined Lotus, looked helpless. She and Zhu Lin were old acquaintances, and she was also very helpless that her new boss was so wantonly mocking her old colleague.

However, this is in line with the image of the new boss. The new boss has a decent reputation in the industry and generally will not actively provoke vicious competition with other companies. Therefore, if a competitor makes a mistake, the new boss will not hesitate to step in and kick it while it's down.

This farce at his former employer has stolen all the attention from the Exeed S01. It's impossible for the boss not to be angry; openly mocking him is the least he can do.

"Let's go back to our exhibition area. It's not appropriate for us to just watch the show here."

Tan Jincheng vaguely remembered the Tesla incident, but he couldn't recall the exact date. Before 2022, Tesla had experienced far too many public relations incidents. It wasn't just that they were being bullied here; they also had a lot of public relations incidents in Europe and North America.

Tan Jincheng really wasn't in the mood to think about when this happened.

The fierce competition in the new energy vehicle market is exemplified in Hall 7.1, which features both traditional automakers striving for progress and increasing investment, emerging forces brimming with technological prowess, and new tech companies like Chrysanthemum, all of which pose a challenge to these two groups.

The power struggle between traditional automakers, emerging players, and technology companies begins at this moment. In addition, Taiwan, which had previously been somewhat secretive about car manufacturing, is now unusually high-profile, collaborating with multiple OEMs and holding high-profile press conferences.

Xiaomi also made a high-profile announcement. At the end of last month, Xiaomi officially announced its car manufacturing plan, and the car manufacturing team was also officially unveiled. The initial investment was 100 billion yuan, with a total investment of 100 billion US dollars.

Lei Jun even held a press conference to announce Xiaomi's cash flow, making a big show of it. Although Xiaomi didn't have any cars at this year's auto show, they still participated.

Although the Tesla female driver's actions were quickly brought under control, a large number of visitors to the exhibition hall were drawn to the Tesla booth to watch the commotion, and the other booths, which were previously bustling with activity, instantly lost many visitors.

The reporters at the scene were snapping photos frantically, their eyes gleaming with barely suppressed excitement—this was going to be a big news story!

"Damn, I have to say, he's not bad looking."

Somewhat unwilling, Tan Jincheng muttered a complaint under his breath, which made Zhao Xinyi roll her eyes.

This is definitely not a small matter. Tesla's brake failure issue has been ongoing since December of last year, when a Tesla Model 3 lost control and crashed into a hotel lobby in Hangzhou. There have been numerous reports of this since then.

These incidents have spread on social media, but have not yet formed a nationwide public opinion storm. The female car owner had previously reported the brake failure problem to Tesla and even put up a banner at a Tesla store, but Tesla ignored her.

This was also a trigger for the protests at the auto show. Tesla's business strategy during this period was to prioritize sales volume over after-sales service, and there are reasons why they have had so many public relations incidents.

In March, a Tesla Model 3 failed to brake at low speed on an island and crashed into a guardrail. After reproducing the fault, Tesla's after-sales personnel initially acknowledged the problem.

However, they later changed their story, saying the ground was slippery.

"Tesla is facing a public relations crisis this time, and it's unclear how they will handle it."

On the way back to her own exhibition area, Zhao Xinyi said with some curiosity, "Tesla has never done a very good job in after-sales service, and you could even say they are a bit arrogant."

"Who knows? You should notify the staff at the auto show to have a meeting tonight."

Tan Jincheng curled his lip, but what they didn't know was that, perhaps provoked by Tan Jincheng, Zhu Lin, after being subdued at the scene, actually told the media that this was a premeditated incident and that Tesla would never compromise.

This statement caused an uproar at the scene.

"We should learn from Tesla's incident today. Once the number of car deliveries increases, the first thing we need to do is to address after-sales issues. In addition, we need to pay special attention to security at the auto show and not rely entirely on the organizers."

The difference in after-sales service volume between serving one person and serving 100 people is completely different. Tesla and Weilai initially followed the same path, taking the high-end niche route.

This phase can be specifically defined as the period from 2014 to 2018, during which early car owners were mainly technology enthusiasts and high-income groups, and their purchase of new energy vehicles was primarily driven by "curiosity".

These car owners tend to be more tolerant of minor vehicle issues, and the owner referral program can also increase user loyalty.

In addition, not many vehicles were sold, so there were very few queues for repairs, resulting in a completely different service experience. As for the period before 2014, the situation was even simpler, with one-on-one service being a common occurrence.

However, once vehicle sales started to pick up and the vehicle entered the mass market, the shortcomings of the previous service model became apparent.

Tesla Model 3, with hundreds of thousands of orders in hand, is selling very well, and the newly launched Model Y is also receiving a very good market response. The shortcomings of Tesla's insufficient service network coverage are particularly obvious, and Tesla seems to be not paying enough attention to the domestic market, perhaps because it has not yet fully adapted to it.

"Everyone, this is such a good negative example, we must learn from it. Just watch, it will definitely have a significant impact on Tesla's sales. You'll know if you pay special attention in the next few days."

The topic of Tesla owners protesting their rights met all the criteria for a viral hit, topping the trending searches across the internet within hours. Almost all the top topics on Weibo were about Tesla, and the female car owner's desperate cries on short video social media platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou were repeatedly shared on screen.

"The competition in new energy vehicles is not just about technology, but also about user trust and service experience. Your project team still lacks experience. Although you are doing so well now, you must take this incident as an example and never let such a serious public relations crisis happen again."

No car can guarantee that it will be completely free of quality problems after it leaves the factory, but triggering a nationwide media storm is an absolute disaster, and for domestic brands, such a disaster is often fatal.

It is an undeniable fact that consumers tend to have a lower tolerance for domestic brands. When domestic brands experience widespread quality problems or public relations crises, the situation is often much more serious than that of foreign or joint-venture brands.

Of course, consumers can't be blamed for this; it's the domestic brands' own shortcomings that have led to this. Everything has a cause and effect. In terms of public relations, domestic brands face greater challenges. Some models, when confronted with a public relations crisis, have seen their sales halved or even disappeared entirely due to inadequate handling.

“Our first full month’s deliveries have definitely exceeded 10,000. With this month’s deliveries added, the first batch of customers you’ll be dealing with will be close to 20,000. The after-sales pressure is no less than that of the Model 3.”

"Zhu Lin's response today deserves special attention. Any manager who makes such a statement to the media should prepare for punishment."

Robin, who was listening in, looked at the slides filled with negative news about Tesla today and past negative news cases. Her face was a little hot, because she was usually one of the participants in these sessions.

However, this new boss is really quite unique. He's not afraid at all that the footage of this meeting will be leaked, even though it's an expanded meeting for all exhibition staff.

"In the current public opinion environment, everyone must watch their mouths. No matter what kind of provocation you are subjected to, pause for ten seconds before speaking. Even if you are criticized, you should not deal with it in a way that exacerbates the conflict."

Unlike other brands that proceed gradually, Starway went all out from the start. Faced with massive sales, the entire project team was both happy and somewhat bewildered, or rather, lacked the ability to cope, resulting in quite a few minor problems.

If it weren't for Hu Zhengnan, Li Xiang, Tan Jincheng, and others keeping a close eye on things, it wouldn't be impossible for major problems to arise given the huge volume of deliveries.

Tesla's recent public relations crisis has indeed stolen the limelight from Exeed, but it's not entirely without its benefits for Exeed; otherwise, Tan Jincheng wouldn't have had a reason to "teach them a lesson."

"Alright, remember what we said. You are facing the mass market. With our strong distribution network, you must provide excellent service. Don't think that high sales volume means everything is fine."

"Alright, that's all for now. Go and get some rest."

After giving the team a pep talk, Tan Jincheng dismissed everyone and then quietly asked Zhao Xinyi, who was still in the meeting room, "Did you record everything?"

"I've recorded it, and I even deliberately shook it a bit. I think it should be pretty close. I'll process it a bit more and then find someone to secretly release it."

This left Robin Danholm, who was lagging behind, dumbfounded, and he didn't know what to say for a moment.

Li Xiang, who was standing to the side, laughed and said, "Don't be surprised. Our boss is just like you described. He has a very strong personality."

Li Xiang was genuinely embarrassed to admit that his boss had pulled off many shady moves. Tesla had stolen the spotlight today, so it was impossible for the boss to have simply mocked Zhu Lin on the spot; there would definitely be follow-up actions.

On April 20, the Tesla rights protection incident continued to escalate, with official media such as XH News and CCTV joining in, criticizing Tesla by name for its arrogant attitude, and the State Administration for Market Regulation also quickly intervened in the incident.

Major media outlets continued to follow up, and the relentless attacks put Tesla under immense pressure. On the evening of the 20th, under pressure, Tesla changed its tune, stating that it had established a special team to cooperate with the investigation and released relevant data.

On the 21st, the State Administration for Market Regulation instructed the Henan Province and Shanghai Stock Exchange regulatory authorities to investigate Tesla in accordance with the law. Tesla felt unprecedented pressure. Musk, who is usually high-profile and would speak out in response to related public opinion crises in North America, unusually chose to remain silent in this public event.

During this public incident, a video that appeared to be somewhat secretly filmed surfaced online, showing a meeting in progress.

Tan Jincheng, president of Weilai Group, pointed to the PPT and addressed the attendees. The PPT was full of negative news about Tesla. Among them, the remarks made by Zhu Lin, vice president of Tesla's ZG region, on the 19th were repeatedly used by our richest man as a negative example.

"Goodness, our richest man is really going all out right up to us, that's too ruthless."

"They're using negative news about their competitors as teaching material. Kudos to the employee who took the photos."

"It's as if I'm seeing Boss Tan from back in the days of the recall scandal, still as flamboyant as ever."

A "secretly filmed" video quickly drew Wei Lai into the center of this public event, regaining some of the attention. This kind of behavior of using competitors as negative examples is not uncommon, but it is rare for it to be made public.

Especially since both sides are currently the most popular groups, coupled with the momentum of the event itself, it's just too hilarious, making onlookers laugh out loud.

Whether Tesla's brakes fail or not isn't that important to many people; they're just there to watch the drama unfold. Now, Wei Lai has added another piece of gossip to the existing juicy story, which is incredibly exciting.

Zhu Lin, who was at the center of the incident, also saw the video very quickly and turned pale with anger.

Those in the industry can tell at a glance whether it was a genuine paparazzi shot or not; they're not as easily fooled as casual observers. The fact that Weilai didn't take any action after the video was exposed shows that it was intentional.

"You certainly know how to add fuel to the fire."

Lei Jun, who held a press conference and claimed he was willing to stake his entire reputation on what would be the last major entrepreneurial project of his life, was quite active at this year's Shanghai Auto Show.

Frequent appearances at the booths of car companies such as BYD, Weilai, Xiaopeng, and Jike have attracted media attention and garnered significant exposure. Meanwhile, Dazui is also adept at marketing and riding the wave of popularity, as evidenced by his demonstration at the Jihu Alfa S, the first model equipped with the advanced autonomous driving ADS (City NCA) system.

Big Mouth immediately unleashed its trump card, claiming that their advanced intelligent driving system is more advanced than Weilai NOP and Tesla's FSD, which certainly garnered a lot of attention.

"Haha, do you call this adding fuel to the fire? I'm just taking back what's rightfully mine, okay?"

In fact, the reason why this public incident involving Tesla was able to erupt and trigger a public outcry in such a short time, with authoritative media outlets immediately jumping in and not giving Tesla any chance to react, is not simply due to vehicle safety.

Since its inception, Elon Musk's Tesla has maintained a tough, tech-driven brand image. In North America and even in the European market, it responds to safety incidents with confrontation and debate, while in our country, it mainly adopts silence and a cold approach.

While the company's image leans towards arrogance, this is not the crux of the problem. First of all, Tesla adopts a fully direct sales model, breaking the monopoly of traditional 4S stores. While maximizing the technological experience, it also poses a threat to the profit chain of 4S stores.

In the past, sales of new energy vehicles were generally low, with the entire market selling only a few hundred thousand vehicles a year. 4S stores naturally didn't care about such a small sales volume. However, this year is different.

In the first quarter, the overall sales of new energy vehicles exceeded 50 units. This is only in China. A huge piece of meat is right in front of us. Domestic new energy vehicle manufacturers, whether they are emerging forces or giants like BYD and WIL, will share a portion of the profits and make concessions.

Tesla has absolutely no intention of doing so, which is bound to make people envious. Coupled with its insufficient investment in after-sales resources and service that cannot keep up with sales, it is only natural that it would be attacked by the masses when negative news comes out.

In addition, the most crucial point is the issue of data security.

Currently, Tesla users cannot access their own data, and Tesla does not have a data center in China. All data is transmitted back to Tesla headquarters. This is a concern not only for car owners but also for government agencies.

Many places restrict Tesla's entry, which is actually due to this consideration. Even Apple has built data centers in China, so why should Musk be an exception?
Currently, the Shanghai Gigafactory contributes more than half of Tesla's global production capacity. Musk has repeatedly emphasized China's efficiency and supply chain in public and expressed his importance to the China market on numerous occasions.

For Tesla, the ZG region is not just about sales volume, but also about the security of the supply chain. Apple has been trying to relocate its industries for years, but it still couldn't succeed. No matter how arrogant Musk is, Tesla will still fail to succeed.

No business activity is independent; compliance with local laws and regulations is mandatory. Multinational corporations should understand this, especially when it comes to security issues, which no country with a voice will tolerate.

Zhu Lin's offhand remark wasn't entirely due to his tough stance.

As for why he did all this, besides reclaiming his own traffic, it was also to understand the underlying tactics and add fuel to the fire. Moreover, Tan Jincheng also knew that Tesla's establishment of a data center in China was non-negotiable and had no room for negotiation.

No matter how arrogant Musk is, he's still a businessman, and he can't do without us right now.

"Fine, whatever you say makes sense now."

Tesla's grand spectacle, fueled by the addition of a third party, has given Lei Jun and Da Zui, two marketing gurus, a taste of the competitiveness of the new energy vehicle industry. Amid this buzz, Exeed S01 officially announced its pre-sale data and stated that it will deliver more than 5000 vehicles in April.

The delivery of 5000 vehicles in 13 days not only demonstrates the competitiveness of the Exeed S01, but also showcases WELAY's top-notch production capacity to the market. Keep in mind that we are currently in a chip shortage, yet WELAY is still able to ensure the normal delivery of every model under its brand.

This must be a huge amount of chips stockpiled to have this capability. It seems that when Wei said he only stockpiled a year's worth of chips, he was underestimating the situation. This kind of capability in the supply chain has put tremendous pressure on manufacturers other than BYD.

BYD and WILTER are the only two domestic automakers that have not been affected by the chip supply shortage. The Exeed S01 has delivered 5000 units in less than a month and a half since its launch, making it an absolute blockbuster.

Wei Lai became an instant hit in the Volkswagen market.

In addition to these two companies, other automakers also flexed their muscles. BYD held a technology launch event at the auto show and invited celebrities to endorse the brand. Wuling, a national car brand, also engaged in various cross-industry collaborations and influencer marketing.

The flying cars and technology IP collaborations showcased by the children, along with the flexing of muscles by traditional automakers like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi, put pressure on Lei Jun, a "greenhorn."

(End of this chapter)