From knock-off old-man's electric vehicles to industrial giant

Chapter 12: A Newcomer Arrives in the Realm of Old People's Entertainment

The next day.

The dozen or so offline channels we contacted have all reported good news.

All the cars shipped out from the offline stores have been ordered.

And there are also pre-orders.

As soon as Xu Yi arrived at the company, he saw Yu Nian's excited expression.

The first batch of 200 cars was produced, and dozens have already been ordered in just three days. And this is only a small-scale rollout.

This news completely dispelled the concerns within the company.

Xu Yi immediately notified the factory to ship out the pre-ordered cars.

And notify the supply chain to increase order contracts.

Just a few days.

A few dozen units may not seem like a lot.

But this is only a small-scale pilot program, and the market feedback has already been quite good!

soon.

Another month and a half has passed.

With the help of the marketing department, the number of offline sales outlets increased from a dozen to more than fifty, covering most of the province.

The sales volume of "Star 01" reached more than 900 units.

Inside the office.

Holding the sales statistics report, Yu Nian excitedly reported the results: "Last week, the offline sales of major stores reached more than 300 units. At this rate of growth, it is almost certain that our total sales next month will exceed 1,500 units. The company's profits have also turned from negative to positive, achieving stable positive growth."

"We're not just in the province, we're also contacting channels outside the province. According to feedback from offline stores, our competitiveness is on a completely different level from ordinary old man's cars. Several distributors have also expressed their intention to increase their orders, saying they want to order dozens of cars at once."

"It's only the beginning of August now. Based on this trend, we estimate that by December, our monthly car sales will exceed three to four thousand units."

The price of electric vehicles for the elderly is low, and they sell quickly.

Even if you buy ten units at once, the amount of money required is only 200,000 yuan, which is just enough to buy one car.

For some offline car dealership owners, this is a piece of cake.

With such positive market feedback, it's no surprise that some people are proactively requesting to increase their orders. Some stores have even removed other models of electric vehicles and used the extra space to display the "Starry Sky 01".

This is not an isolated case. The main reason is that its appearance and product strength are simply too superior. As long as it targets the right audience, its appeal is not on the same level as other competing products in the same category!
Judging from this situation, the factory's production capacity is actually somewhat insufficient.

Because the production lines that were previously adjusted could only produce a maximum of 2,000 units per month.

"Old Zheng, get the factory production line expansion and employee recruitment done as soon as possible. With the production line expansion going so well, we can go all out and get the production capacity up to 50,000 units per year as quickly as possible."

Two weeks ago, Xu Yi had already held a meeting and determined to greatly increase production capacity and add another production line.

Although the manufacturing process of the Starry Sky 01 is not complicated, the current production line automation rate is not high.

Large factories use automated machinery and robotic arms, including integrated stamping and welding robots.

For small factories like theirs, apart from the main stamping and welding machines, the production capacity is entirely achieved by manual labor.

The factory currently has 220 workers, which is clearly not enough.

To boost sales, we need to at least double our recruitment.

"Mr. Xu, don't worry, the production capacity will definitely be secured within this month."

Zheng Tie immediately nodded and said.

Expanding a car production line is actually quite complicated.

The conversion of a traditional gasoline-powered vehicle production line typically takes 5 to 8 months.

However, their production line for elderly people's vehicles can be easily modified from the existing tricycle production line in two months.

"Mr. Xu, the sales channels within the province are almost fully established. Next, we will expand to other provinces and have already selected a plan..." "According to market research, the manufacturers of electric vehicles for the elderly in our province are mainly located in Shandong and Jiangsu. So we plan to first see if we can contact the offline distributors in Shandong and penetrate their sales network."

Yu Nian then spoke.

When discussing the mass appeal of "elderly recreational vehicles," these two provinces are worth mentioning.

It's hard to say whether Shan Dong or Jiang Su is the "King of Senior Citizens' Amusement Parking".

However, it can definitely be considered one of the two largest production bases for elderly electric vehicles in the country. Places like Dezhou, Zouping, and Weifang have manufacturers of elderly electric vehicles, making it one of the largest production bases for elderly electric vehicles in China.

It is also the province with the highest sales volume of electric vehicles for the elderly.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology does not have sales statistics for this type of vehicle. Yu Nian had to follow the trail step by step through offline distributors and conduct detailed research before he was able to find the specific data.

They are bringing their own car models into the home base of manufacturers that produce electric vehicles for the elderly.

This plan seems very arrogant.

They're actually quite arrogant!

However, once a few key nodes are successfully established, the company can emulate the other party's development and deploy "Xingchen 01" to the two provinces with the highest sales volume of low-speed vehicles in the country, and then use this as a basis to ship to the whole country.

"Yes, there's one more thing, which is the most important project topic today."

Xu Yi tapped the table, having finished summarizing the recent development strategies, and was about to get to the main topic of today's meeting.

"The research and development project for Star 02 can now officially begin."

The words fell.

The crowd's attention immediately increased.

The current momentum is enough to warrant increasing R&D investment. The market for microcars is quite large, and producing only one model of "old man's car" is clearly insufficient to meet market demand.

"According to feedback from offline channels, many customers have asked us if the factory offers other models after they come in and see the car. There are still many potential customers who are not satisfied with just this one model."

Xu Yi preached.

Let alone two styles, during the years when the old man's car was booming in my previous life, there were dozens of models that could be cosplayed as popular cars on the market.

It's downright insane.

There are also high-end and low-end versions of "old man's car".

This sounds ridiculous, but it's the truth.

There's a world of difference between a 10,000 yuan "old man's car" and a 30,000 yuan "old man's car".

A 10,000 yuan "old man's car" is usually a very narrow three-box vehicle, which is a combination of a three-wheeled scooter with a steering wheel and a shell.

The 30,000 yuan "old man's car" not only comes with air conditioning, but also resembles a regular car in many ways, with higher range and better features.

Based on market feedback regarding the Xingchen 01, they could easily build a new model with even higher specifications to further capture the "high-end senior citizen vehicle market"!
"You can take a look at the exterior design of this new car. If there are no problems, we can finalize the design."

A 3D rendering appeared on the large screen in the conference room.

The first thing you see is a strong and smooth silhouette, with a honeycomb grille on the front face paired with sharp headlights that run from front to back, while the side profile and waistline exude a touch of nobility.

Very classic.

It's also very domineering.

Look at the screen.

Everyone had mixed feelings.

After ruining the Porsche.

The Range Rover ultimately couldn't escape Mr. Xu's clutches.

In fact, based on the proportions of the old man's car, this imitation will undoubtedly have a higher degree of accuracy and style.

(End of this chapter)