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

Chapter 152 Starry Night Mini Cherry Blossom Pink Cat Ear Ultimate Edition!
I relaxed all night.

The next day.

Get up early in the morning.

Xu Yi asked the two girls to go out first.

After reviewing the materials last night, he discovered that Sun Shuhua hadn't lied; the talent group really did have talent.

Don’t say anything else.

They are both currently enrolled at the Beijing Film Academy, definitely art students.

He's got artistic talent from head to toe.

...

After getting dressed, Xu Yi washed up briefly.

Not a moment.

It was eight o'clock.

My assistant, Xiao Zhou, brought me breakfast.

A simple bowl of noodles with eggs and soy milk.

Eat while.

Xu Yi opened the video conference.

We are working with internal departments to gather recent delivery data for several of our models.

Now, the Xingchen S7 has been on the market for 25 days and is about to usher in its first full 30-day delivery cycle. This is a brand new achievement for both the market and Xingchen Auto.

On the other end of the video conference, Wang Chuan, the sales director, sounded very excited.

"Mr. Xu, to date, our Star S7 offline deliveries have reached 7,700 units. It's a sure thing that we'll achieve our goal of 8,000 units in the first month, and we expect to exceed that by several hundred units!"
The remaining locked-in orders are still 37063 units, and are continuing to grow slowly, indicating that market consumers' trust in us remains undiminished.

Xingchen Automotive's sales department has now been completely separated from the marketing department, focusing on precise control of "offline channel management" and "order conversion".

The marketing department is responsible for brand strategy, marketing activities, including research and user operations, as well as some cross-departmental collaborative work.

Based on the current order data held by Xingchen S7, they are in a very comfortable position.

You don't need to worry about delivery for the next three months.

And it will continue to grow even without competitors.

Once production capacity gradually increases, maintaining a steady pace of deliveries exceeding 10,000 units will not be a problem at all.

This is actually close to the F1 factory's capacity limit for the first half of the year. If it is increased further, the production line will find it difficult to withstand greater pressure.

After all, this involves thousands of workers and hundreds of upstream and downstream supply chains.

Gradually expanding production also requires a lot of time and additional funds.

The current delivery data has not been released to the public.

Many people in the industry are already keeping an eye on Xingchen Auto's "new car insurance registration volume".

The investigation caused quite a stir in the industry.

"In addition, we are also holding test drive events offline to try to secure more orders."

Regarding the Star Mini, we still delivered 20,531 units last month. Several major manufacturers have entered the market, further driving down the price of micro-sized new energy vehicles, making the competition fierce. However, we still maintain our leading position.

...

Thanks to its first-mover advantage, coupled with the launch of the Starry Sky S7, the Starry Sky Mini has become even more popular.

It's just the market for microcars.

The pace of intense competition is coming faster than expected.

After all, there are no technical barriers, and the industry excels at keeping costs low or even "making cars and opening books without making money."

Anyway, there are government subsidies and carbon credits to back them up, so let's just wipe out a few first!
Even without a safety net, people might still choose to engage in a fierce battle first, kicking out all the other players.

It's a big company, after all.

The old trick is to burn money to seize the market first, and then reap the rewards.

It's already quite remarkable that Star Mini can maintain this delivery volume.

Xu Yi sensed a hint of crisis in his voice, but remained calm throughout.

The rise and fall of other brands' microcars is their business.

After all, it lacks a core technology moat.

Their Star Auto is different.

If you develop so many patents, you'll still be overtaken by your competitors.

Wouldn't that be a waste of research and development?!
-

"How is the expansion of Polestar Battery's production capacity going? Can you spare some capacity to supply other models now?" Xu Yi asked directly.

Polestar batteries are a major weapon in the current Xingchen Motors lineup.

In previous promotional materials, the importance of core technologies for new energy batteries has been consistently emphasized.

It boasts high energy density, leading safety standards, and low cost.

Logically.

By replacing all of its models with Polestar batteries, the company can dominate the market during the period when no other large-cell batteries have emerged in the industry.

but.

Polestar's battery production capacity will also take time to expand.

The first batch of Polestar batteries was used to ensure the delivery and supply of the Starry Sky S7.

If we calculate based on the monthly delivery volume of 15,000 units of the Starry Sky S7, then at least 13GWh of battery production capacity is needed throughout the year to ensure a stable supply.

Zheng Tie responded to the video, "Our independently-owned Xingchen Battery Plant, along with the Weineng Battery Plant, is expanding its production capacity rapidly. We expect to have overflow capacity by next month..."

However, this initial production capacity probably won't be able to cover the delivery consumption of all Star Mini models. Switching the high-end version to Polestar batteries should be feasible. Although the Star Mini's battery pack is small, its sales volume is by no means small.

If things go wrong, there could be 30,000 to 40,000 units sold out in a month.

That puts too much pressure on Polestar's battery production line.

Upon hearing this.

Xu Yi laughed, "Who said I was going to replace the high-end version of the Star Mini with a Polar Star battery? Wouldn't that be betraying consumers?"

What are the owners who just bought the high-spec version supposed to think? Do you think we can do something like developing three different models in a year?

The market is now highly competitive, and even the Star Mini is experiencing a decline in sales.

Moreover, there are other car companies still engaged in fierce competition.

They've rolled out two rounds of various color options and price reduction strategies, and they've been offering interest-free and zero-down-payment car delivery for several months now.

"Mr. Xu, you mean we should release a new model?!" Yu Nian was the first to react, and his eyes immediately lit up.

Xu Yi didn't mince words: "That's right, the Star Mini equipped with Polestar batteries is being launched as a new model, emphasizing safety and high technology, and the price will be raised to 60,000 yuan."

Previously, the marketing department conducted user profiling research.

Our female users alone account for more than a quarter of our total user base.

While competitors have lowered their prices for optical drives, they've completely ignored the reasons why the new energy mini car was able to quickly replace the lower-tier market.

Car manufacturers must have a service-oriented mindset.

Previously, our exterior and interior designs were too simple and didn't particularly appeal to female aesthetics.

Now that we have enough time, we can definitely release a car model exclusively for women.

For example, adding cat ears, cherry blossom pink exterior paint, and girly pink interior...

We also doubled the size of the vanity mirrors for the driver and passenger sides, added better auxiliary lights, and doubled the ambient lighting inside the car.

In addition, there is a module for remote vehicle control.

Paired with Polestar batteries, it is designed to be a sophisticated small car for women.

......"

When it comes to the car manufacturing sector driven by female users, this is definitely a hot topic.

Whether it's the "cherry blossom pink appearance" or the "enlarged makeup mirror with fill light," both received unanimous praise in the early stages and had very good sales feedback.

These features are inexpensive to implement, yet they make women more willing to pay for them.

Xu Yi's experience with the market proves that a significant portion of women are almost powerless against this.

of course.

We cannot completely exploit female car owners as if they were being exploited for their intelligence.

As it turns out, those companies that focused solely on aesthetics and ended up selling for tens or hundreds of thousands of yuan at a premium quickly failed.

Most women are indeed prone to impulsive spending and are more willing to consume than men.

But they're not stupid.

It's not like you can just blindly rush to buy something because it has a pleasing appearance.

People not only care about "face," but also about "substance."

And "Polarstar Battery" and "Remote Control Function" are the core of this.

"Technological feel" + "Appearance positioning" + "Unique core patents"... This constitutes an impeccable product positioning matrix.

A car like this only costs 60,000.

Is it expensive?!

...

"Mr. Xu, I understand!"

Our competitors are pushing low-price coupons, so we'll go for the high-end!
A premium small car priced at 60,000 yuan is considered a mid-to-high-end option in the lower-tier market! The gross profit margin for the entire vehicle can be increased even further!

"Cherry blossom pink? And it even has cat ears?? This car sounds awesome!"

"Mr. Xu, I'd like to pre-order one!"

"You bald man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, what do you want, cherry blossom pink?"

"What's wrong with men? Who says men can't drive pink cars?!"

……

The response has been very enthusiastic!

Almost everyone immediately realized that this was an excellent track!
That sounds really exciting!
They had previously released pink car modification wraps for cars.

But how can it compare to the original cat-ear cherry blossom pink color and the specially designed interior?

Moreover, the batteries and configurations are different here.

The impact on the lower-tier consumer market will be absolutely huge!

Xu Yi nodded: "Given the limited initial production capacity of Polaris batteries, let's start a pre-order campaign for the Sakura Pink Cat Ear Edition Star Mini, and place an initial order of 5,000 limited units to see the market response."

If everyone sells out quickly, then we'll continue to expand production significantly.

This wasn't him intentionally using scarcity marketing.

Polestar's battery production capacity is indeed limited.

Furthermore, there are specific guidelines for booking events; we need to observe the market response first.

The price range of 60,000 yuan is already at the upper limit of the price of small cars in the lower-tier market.

Although they are all optimistic about it internally, they still need to verify it through consumer market feedback before making a decision.

……

(End of this chapter)