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

Chapter 38: Just a little bit of hardship!

to be frank.

After consulting with legal counsel, Lucas decided he was no longer willing to deal with such trivial matters.

On the one hand, it's too troublesome to pursue the matter, and on the other hand, the other party has cleverly circumvented the patent.

Moreover, the vehicles used for commuting in lower-tier markets don't even qualify as formal cars or motor vehicles.

He looked it up later.

These vehicles, commonly known as "old man's cars" in China, are not listed in the official directory of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, but they are recorded in relevant regulations as "tourist area mobility vehicles," "factory mobility vehicles," and "special vehicles for closed parks."

This is why the government has not completely banned its production.

just.

In the last video, only one high-quality replica car appeared.

When Lucas saw the video footage that was sent to him, he couldn't hold back anymore!

A whole row of "Baby Buses"!
They look like twins.

They stole all the patents related to their car models.

Moreover, according to the content of the video, it was produced by several different brand manufacturers.

Total monthly sales in the consumer market have exceeded 30,000 to 40,000 units.

no doubt.

The proliferation of these types of models damages their brand image.

"It's really upsetting that this is happening..."

Lucas sighed.

To be honest, he didn't really want to get involved.

But now that things have come to this point, it seems like we can't just ignore it anymore.

Just as he was feeling speechless.

Another employee walked in.

"Director, an offline distributor in Luzhou provided us with some information. They said that an anonymous fan collected evidence of infringement related to these counterfeit old man's cars offline and sent it to us in a file."

Lucas was taken aback. "Offline distributors?"

As the sales headquarters of Porsche in mainland China, they naturally maintain close ties with direct-sales offline dealers in major first- and second-tier cities. In some special cases, and when problems arise with some limited-edition imported models that need to be returned to China for repairs, the process must also go through the headquarters.

But offline dealers only care about selling cars and after-sales service, how could they possibly collect such things?
And who is this anonymous fan?

How did he find a distributor to act as his agent?
"Never mind, let's take a look at the documents first." Lucas seemed a little curious.

Open the compressed file; inside are organized documents and materials.

then.

A few minutes passed.

Lucas frowned slightly, understanding.

"Apart from Xingchen, which we saw earlier, the other commuter car manufacturers did not make any appearance patent avoidance details, which explains why their designs feel a bit different."

Based on their current sales and profit calculations...

A direct lawsuit can easily yield a large sum of money in damages.

To sue such local businesses, one can only go to the local government to file a lawsuit. Lucas had heard about the relevant cases, not to mention that the relationships between many manufacturers and certain localities are actually quite unusual.

This is one of the reasons why he has always been reluctant to get involved.

But it's different now.

With the chain of evidence laid bare, it's practically handed over to them.

Secondly, the online buzz surrounding them has significantly impacted their brand image, so it would be unreasonable for them not to step in.

……

……

Reading Auto has recently been plagued by a series of problems.

The launch of the new car successfully turned the tide, leveraging the influence of the large and well-established local sales network.

After changing their strategy, they sold six to seven thousand "Leading 911" units in just twenty days.

It looks like it's about to take off.

But at this time.

Many of its stores suddenly experienced a large number of after-sales problems.

After investigating the cause, it was found that the rush to complete the project resulted in insufficient precision in the mold data for the car body, leading to air leakage in the A-pillar and dislocation of parts.

This situation would be considered a major accident involving a new car in the case of any reputable car manufacturer.

It requires strict and careful handling.

However, Reading remained completely unperturbed by the situation.

Zhou Tao simply glanced at the number of after-sales requests and then left it to the offline stores to handle.

Ok……

A little bit of hardship, that's all!

Just kidding, it's just a car for the elderly, so a slight failure rate is normal!

Why are the profits from electric vehicles for seniors so high?

It's because this thing doesn't have a warranty or industry standards, so they can cut corners however they want inside.

Of those who spend 20,000 to 30,000 yuan on a low-speed electric car for the elderly, how many of them actually know anything about cars?

What do those older men and stay-at-home mothers know?
It's all about appearance!

To put it bluntly, as long as it can be opened, the interior is fine as it is!
Simply put—

They profit from the "unenlightened" population in lower-tier markets.

Cheap things come at a price!
...

After the incident occurred.

After some coordination, a number of quality issues were resolved.

Established, leading brands like them have extensive experience in solving these kinds of problems.

All that's needed afterward is to adjust the production line and make minor adjustments to the production process to address the identified quality issues.

Using the first batch of cars sold on the market as "human quality inspectors" is unethical, but it is also for the purpose of saving costs and development time.

It can only be said that Leading Auto was really pushed to the limit.

Zhou Tao's mood relaxed as a result.

Don't panic... It's just a technical adjustment!
Everything proceeded according to his plan.

Once this is over, with their price reduction measures and efforts in offline channels, won't it be easy for them to increase sales volume?
That's when.

Vice President Liu Bin walked in, his face ashen: "President Zhou, something's happened!"

Seeing his expression, Zhou Tao immediately had a bad feeling: "What's wrong? What's the problem now?"

"Several offline stores have started causing trouble again. Many people have gathered together demanding refunds, and some have even reported us for product quality issues..."

"What's going on? Wasn't this problem solved before? Why is it causing trouble again? Has the car developed some other problem?" Zhou Tao asked in astonishment.

Are consumers so hard to fool these days?
"No, please take a look at this video link first. I sent it to the executive group, and it's already been viewed over a million times. Our car is being criticized as industrial garbage in the video..." Liu Bin said with a wry smile.

Zhou Tao turned around and opened the computer chat window.

Then I was completely stunned!

Vehicle comparison... A showdown between electric vehicles for seniors?!
It was a video made by a top car reviewer, how come they didn't know about this?

no)

Are car reviewers really that free these days?!

Why not focus on taking commercial orders and reviewing legitimate cars instead of getting involved in these low-speed electric vehicles?
...

Liu Bin: "This video disassembled and tested our car and several other cars, revealing a bunch of problems. It wouldn't have been a big deal, but the key is that Xingchen's car performed perfectly, and the video went viral. It's spreading like wildfire and has become a popular internet meme!"

There is no harm without comparison.

Whether it's integrated electronic products or commercially available cars, once the internal components are disassembled, the level of industrial design and the quality of materials used are basically exposed, not to mention that there's a top car reviewer providing commentary.

Zhou Tao was completely dumbfounded when she saw what was in the video!

In his view, the problems with the other cars were not a big deal, because everyone was a player of the same skill level.

If I had to describe them in one word, it would be "the Crouching Dragon and the Young Phoenix".

In addition, inaccurate instrument panels and overheating of motors due to prolonged high-power output are already common occurrences in the industry.

It's not that they can't do it well, but it requires cost and time.

If prices have already dropped to this level, and they're still rushing to launch the product while trying to retain a certain profit margin, then they can only resort to cutting corners in ways that aren't readily visible.

Then look at Xingchen Motors, this is the most outrageous one!
Everyone else is manufacturing electric vehicles for the elderly according to the standards for manufacturing electric vehicles for the elderly, so why are you the only one doing it according to the standards for the automotive industry?

Doing this secretly is really despicable, you know?!

……

(End of this chapter)