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

Chapter 135 What is User-Centric Thinking?!

The internal virtual stock pool issue has been resolved simply.

Xu Yi didn't leave work; he immediately called the factory.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the press conference is over.

At this point in time, no department within the company can afford to relax.

Not only are most of them working overtime.

even.

Busier than usual!!

The press conference is over, and we have a large number of small and large orders in hand.

However, the delivery and production in the first month involved the supply of raw materials and components from dozens of upstream and downstream suppliers, as well as the factory's production and the scheduling of personnel in various departments.

If the vehicles aren't delivered by the end of the day, Xingchen Automotive is like sitting on a volcano about to erupt.

It may take off on the spot.

It's also possible that a bottleneck in any stage of production or delivery could lead to a complete collapse!

This is a characteristic of large-scale manufacturing.

If you dare to be a hands-off manager, you'll be in for a world of trouble.

Moreover, as a new energy vehicle startup, Xingchen Automotive's supply chain and factory infrastructure are far less robust and complete than those of traditional automakers, leaving it with no option to simply relinquish control.

The hybrid direct sales model means there are no channel distributors to help share the inventory pressure.

What Xu Yi needs to do now is to ensure that there are no problems with the delivery and production in the first month!
Not only are champagne not allowed during the halfway point.

Even after opening the champagne bottle, the internal stability and efficiency must be maintained at 100% before the fruits of our labor are fully consumed!

How's production going at the F1 factory?

"Mr. Xu, the production lines are operating at full capacity, with staff working 12-hour shifts plus three emergency shifts. Equipment utilization is over 96%. There were some minor bugs, but fortunately, the supplier's on-site engineers quickly resolved them..."

Zheng Tie's voice came from the other end of the video call.

can be seen.

The F1 automated factory has already started operating at full speed, with production workers and technicians in overalls all working at full capacity and high efficiency.

As a car manufacturing plant that has just been completed and put into operation, it has already started full-speed production.

Xu Yi's biggest worry is that the production line and equipment will have problems.

Although small-batch trial production has already begun.

However, the "break-in period" in large-scale manufacturing is no joke.

If there's any car factory that operates with absolutely no failures, then that's truly cutting-edge technology.

The reality is.

As long as mass production begins.

This will inevitably lead to problems such as "new equipment not being debugged to the required standard" and "equipment coordination failure"!
During the early small-scale trial production, Xu Yi and the factory have already solved many similar problems.

This includes secondary debugging of equipment and program bugs causing line outages.

A lot of materials were scrapped.

In the later stages of trial production, the equipment was debugged and the staff became more proficient, and everything seemed perfect.

However, it cannot be guaranteed that no problems will occur.

Therefore, Xu Yi's approach was to add relevant clauses when signing the contract, allowing the equipment supplier's technical engineers to be stationed on-site directly, thus improving the production efficiency of the first-phase factory.

A bug in the equipment occurred during a critical production process.

With on-site engineers from suppliers, they can arrive at the site within 10 minutes if a problem occurs, and even if the production line is stopped due to a problem, production can be resumed in the shortest possible time.

Otherwise, if a serious problem arises and the factory's maintenance team can't handle it, they'll just be left helpless.

By the time we report it and wait for the supplier's technical engineer to arrive, it will be too late.

"What about the supply chain for sensors, chips, and battery raw materials?"

"These supply chains and logistics are all guaranteed... We expect to fully meet our production target of 3,500 vehicles in the first half of the month!!"

……

Zhengzhou Railway and the factory's senior management team reported on the production progress one by one.

After making this video call.

Xu Yi leaned back in his office chair and stared at the building's floor-to-ceiling windows for a while.

Located on the top floor, it offers unobstructed views.

It feels like the MVP award is nearing its end.

but.

Not a moment.

The marketing department's party is here.

"Mr. Xu, the sales department is currently fully booked. On average, each store's sales staff is responsible for connecting with dozens of customers who have placed orders, both large and small, and for summarizing information. We have already begun emergency recruitment and training of delivery personnel."

Currently, there are several issues that have been reported in large numbers by car owners.

First, the vehicle delivery date cannot be accurately determined.

Secondly, for orders placed after the 20,000th order, the waiting period for car owners is too long, and a small number of them are less willing to buy.

Third, a small number of car owners who had already placed orders wanted to change their configurations, and they had strong opinions about this, so the stores could not make the decision on their own.

......"

The sales channel manager reported on each item one by one.

Not only the factories, but also the offline sales stores are booming.

How busy have Xingchen Auto's sales staff been these past two days?

I'm constantly test driving during the day, and by the time I get home at 10 p.m., I don't even have time to eat. I'm still busy replying to messages from car owners and delivery personnel on my phone.

With more people, there are more problems.

When you put them all together, it's even more overwhelming.

Currently, the maximum production capacity for the first month is only around 8,000 units.

Therefore, for large orders of 8,000 units or more, the delivery period is impossible to estimate. We can only tell customers that they will receive the car in one to two months, which is a very long period.

As for orders after 20,000 units, those are in even greater danger, and it will take two months before they can be delivered.

With a cycle of more than sixty days, those with less patience might give up, or it's not impossible that the company will be labeled a "car futures scam".

"I had a video call with the factory and asked the software department to work overtime. The factory's production batch and VIN data will be integrated with the internal car owner information within three days. At that time, all car owners will be able to see roughly which week they will pick up their cars, with an error margin of no more than seven days..."

Xu Yi said.

"Secondly, for car owners who want to change their car configuration, let the store sales staff give them more authority and let them change it however they want, including the color and configuration, based on the car owner's wishes."

Given the current automotive market, let alone many traditional car companies.

Even among domestic car manufacturers with a better reputation and emerging car companies, most do not allow car owners to change configurations after locking in their orders.

Some of them are because the cars have already gone into production and can't be modified!
Others, even if the cars aren't on the production line, don't want to open that door and waste too much human resources.

However, as the number of orders increases, there will always be a small group of people who are not qualified to participate.

But in Xu Yi's view...

It doesn't matter at all!!

change!
Change it as you like!!

Their Star S7 comes in only two configurations and four color options, plus three interior colors.

It's also a level where you can just mix and match anything.

In other words, if these car owners are allowed to make all sorts of modifications, the system can perfectly reassign the cars that were scheduled for production to other car owners.

This is the advantage of having fewer configurations and being simple and straightforward.

The car wasn't expensive to begin with, so why make it so expensive with all the optional extras? Isn't that just asking for trouble?

The problem has been solved.

Finally, there's the waiting time for the bus, which is also the most difficult problem to solve.

Xu Yi thought for a moment and came up with a solution.

"Starting tomorrow, we will send a message to all car owners who have placed orders through the app, specifically those who have locked in their orders for more than a month and are still waiting."

Starting from the thirtieth day, 200 waiting points will be awarded daily. These points can be used to purchase headrests, floor mats, and eco-friendly products in the car store.

In addition, points can be used to offset the cost of the vehicle; the longer the order waits, the more points you earn, but they can only be used after you take delivery of the vehicle.

Previously, Xingchen Auto launched a car mall section.

Purchases can be made not through direct payment, but also by earning points.

The ratio is 10 points = 1 yuan.

In other words, it's like an official cash reward, but it can only be used to offset purchases in their car store and when picking up the car.

It's essentially another form of "enjoy the discount earlier, enjoy it later"!

...

"Waiting points system, what a great idea! Low cost, but it keeps drivers hooked!"

Upon hearing this, Yu Nian's eyes immediately lit up.

By distributing points, they don't have to spend much money at all.

Because car owners with short delivery periods are unlikely to receive the vehicle, or only a very small number will.

And those who can keep receiving the benefits, when calculated, it's not an exaggeration. The key is to retain these people and greatly alleviate the anxiety of car owners waiting for their cars.

The best part is that these waiting points can only be redeemed when the car owner picks up the vehicle.

This indirectly increases the psychological cost for car owners to give up their vehicles.

Absolutely perfect!!
"Hey—what do you mean by 'hanging the car owner around'? We're a user-centric company; this is called 'thinking about the car owner'."

Xu Yi smiled.

The tone was taken for granted.

The "waiting-for-bus perk" concept has actually been overused by new energy vehicle startups in later generations.

Because they couldn't deliver the car and were afraid the owner would give up, some competitors even snatched the order, paying a deposit of 5,000 yuan upfront just to steal the owner.

This forced companies to offer various "car purchase benefits" and prioritize rights to retain car owners.

Don't be fooled by the fact that many new players offer "one-stop financing."

Many projects, once they reach the delivery stage, become nothing more than "production worms"!

This was partly due to external natural disasters, coupled with a shortage of chips and sensors.

However, this also reflects how chaotic the supply chain management and internal inefficiency of these emerging car companies are.

In the end, they managed to turn what should have been a winning hand into a terrible one, one that everyone despised.

that's it.

From internal to external production, Xingchen Motors operates at full capacity from start to finish.

period.

An interesting thing also happened.

Three days after Xingchen Auto held its press conference.

BYD and CATL simultaneously released some explosive news.

The initial mass production of large single-cell battery technology will be achieved within this year.

BYD executives went so far as to reveal the name of their large single-cell battery – the Blade Battery.

For a while.

The media swarmed in.

"Hello Mr. Wang, will the blade battery really be mass-produced this year? What is its performance like? Since it uses a large single-cell structure, can its energy density and safety compare to Polestar's battery, which is currently recognized as the best lithium iron phosphate battery?"

At the technology launch event, a reporter asked the question first.

"Yes, mass production will begin by the end of the year at the latest. As for safety and energy density, BYD will still be at the top level in China for lithium iron phosphate batteries," Wang Chuanfu replied briefly.

It neither said it was comparable to nor inferior to it.

It's basically top-tier domestically, that's all that matters!
To be honest, given the specifications and safety performance of Polestar batteries, they also had their doubts.

But no way.

This is ridiculous... they're already handing over the cars.

The large-scale financing of Vaillant Battery a few days ago even made headlines in the investment community.

If BYD, the domestic leader in lithium iron phosphate batteries, doesn't step up and make a statement...

Even if the internal situation can be stabilized, the stock price is bound to collapse!

Fortunately, their progress is not slow either. As long as they can produce it this year, it will still be top-notch in China!

Wang Chuanfu comforted himself in this way.

But the reporter's next question made him completely lose his composure!

"Hello Mr. Wang, is it because your large single-cell blade battery was released right after Star Auto's Polestar large single-cell battery that you wanted to ride on its popularity?"

Or did Polestar's battery technology inspire BYD's research and development approach?

The reporter asked boldly.

They're really going all out to create a big news story.

But in fact, this is a question that most people have in mind!

Previously, BYD had not disclosed any information about the development of the blade battery to the outside world.

And now, it's being released suddenly, right after the Polaris battery—doesn't that seem like a coincidence?
Anyone would think that way!
...

Wang Chuanfu: "..."

"What did you say? How dare you slander someone's innocence out of thin air!"

“We at BYD are self-developed companies. Besides, the R&D project for battery technology often takes three to five years. How could it be that we borrowed the R&D ideas of Xingchen Automotive?”

We were already developing the blade battery before they even started manufacturing cars!

This is a technology we developed internally! It's even the first of its kind!
Excellent technical approaches all share similar underlying principles!

The executive next to him argued, his face flushed and neck red.

The reporter blinked: "You mean to say that BYD has actually been working on this project for several years, but its R&D efficiency is still not as good as that of a startup car company?"

As soon as these words came out.

The expressions of the executives and core R&D members present suddenly froze.

It felt like something fragile inside me shattered with a "crack"!

"Throw him out! Throw him out!!"

A riot broke out at the scene.

On the day.

Rumors immediately began to circulate:

[BYD executives appear to have lost their composure, insisting that the blade battery is an industry first]

Many netizens watched.

"666, that's really bold of you!"

"Hahaha, this is hilarious! How did he manage to unleash his ultimate skill right up to the enemy's face?!"

"BYD's DM hybrid technology and lithium iron phosphate batteries have been really impressive these past two years, but I never expected that they would be overtaken by newcomers. It really shows how unpredictable life is..."

"I'd like to ask about the Xingchen S7. I looked at the Qin E300 before, but I felt its range was a bit lacking. The Xingchen is a bit more expensive now, but its range can reach 400km and it charges quickly. Is it worth it?"

"Dude, do you even need to ask? The battery technology is clearly a generation ahead, and the actual car looks really cool with high-end features. It's just that it might be difficult to place orders. You'll see when you go to the store."

"Before the Star S7 came out, I never imagined that a domestically produced new energy vehicle in the 200,000 yuan price range could be so powerful!!"

……

For a while.

Many people are discussing it.

A segment of consumers has been paying close attention to new energy vehicles.

Originally, BYD was considered one of the better brands in their minds, but now the emergence of the Star S7 has given these new energy vehicle owners a brand new option.

After watching this video, my impression of Polaris Battery's technological leadership has become even more profound.

……

(End of this chapter)